With my ankle on the mend, I mapped out a running schedule last Wednesday for the rest of the taper. Thursday morning before I finished coffee my little toe was swollen and black and blue nearly a third of the way up my left foot. It hurt so bad I couldn’t walk… I had no clue what I had done to myself.

It was 5am that same morning when I woke up to one of the dogs feeling sick. I threw my legs over the side of the bed in a mad dash to the rescue but was clearly sleeping closer to the edge of the bed than I realized and I fell off. It happened fast.

I was trying to get to the light, unlock the door and find the dog that was sick in one fell swoop. It was one fell swoop for sure. I must have jammed my little toe falling out of the bed.

There were three more days of no running. This has been the taper from hell!

Maybe there’s been too much time at home. I’ve worked on everything I can think of. The drapes are finished in the bedroom, the houseplants have been moved inside, the leaves blown out of the areas they shouldn’t be…the silver polished. The guest house is ready for guests, the garden is ready for winter. There’s nothing left to do around here….except hurt myself!

We haven’t talked about the government shutdown though.  An email from the MCM on October 4th implied they were working around the shutdown in an effort to keep the race on schedule. Truth was the race was to be cancelled this past Saturday if the government didn’t change their cheating ways.

USA Today reported: “The government shutdown on Tuesday brought more panic to a world already feeling insecure due to disasters – the world of distance running.” MCM’s Facebook page headlined a warning: “While still considering and exploring all possible options, the MCM has targeted this Saturday, October 19 as the date to officially notify runners of the status of the event.”

Thank goodness the politicians worked themselves into a moment of sanity long enough for us to run our marathon and do a little sightseeing among our nation’s impressive monuments and museums.

And Sunday, I went for a run – it seems to be the only time I don’t get hurt. My little toe was sore but tolerable. My ankle was fine. I kept a nice pace just 15-30 seconds off race pace and it felt good. I think I’ll be ok….if I can manage to keep myself out of another calamity for just six more days. Maybe I’ll spend the rest of the week in isolation.