An unfortunate turn of events

In the teachers' workroom icing my shin

Disaster!

Looks like I jinxed myself when I boasted of feeling great after a 73 mile week last week.  This week: rest day Monday.  Tuesday: 9 miler in which I jogged the first mile, then threw down the hammer and ran the rest at race pace.  I flagged in the middle but finished the last mile in 6:27 and an average pace of 7:08 over the full 8 miles.  On Wednesday I ran 5 miles at 5am and was still feeling great.  Then that afternoon I ran 12 miles in low 80's heat and developed pain in my left shin.  I started a speed workout yesterday but called it off a mile in, and today I canceled my 10 miler this afternoon, and will most likely not run tomorrow either.

I am extremely frustrated to have to backslide like this.  I felt like training was going so well - I was tired, yes, but reveling in the hard work and the pride I was sure to experience on race day because of it.  I was making incredible progress and my body was holding up to the demands I was placing on it, slowly but surely being molded into a distance machine on the inside and out.  And on Wednesday it all came crashing down.  I feel like qualifying for Boston at all is already a long shot and my training needed to be perfect, but now I'm forced to take several days off and I don't know how this will affect my chances now.