Summary of the previous three weeks:

February 10-16: 49 miles (100% easy pace)
  Sunday: 5 miles at 7:29/mi.
  Monday: 7 miles at 7:16/mi.
  Tuesday: off
  Wednesday: 7 miles at 7:14/mi.
  Thursday: 7 miles at 7:14/mi.
  Friday: 5 miles at 7:19/mi.
  Saturday: 18 miles at 7:20/mi.

February 17-23: 35 miles (89% easy and 11% tempo paces)
  Sunday: off
  Monday: off
  Tuesday: 7 miles at 7:24/mi. on a treadmill
  Wednesday: 7 miles at 7:15/mi.
  Thursday: 2.5 E, 4 x 1 mile T @ 6:16 avg. (1 min.), 1.5 E (8 miles total)
  Friday: 6 miles at 7:17/mi.
  Saturday: 7 miles at 7:17/mi.

Feb. 24 - March 2: 51 miles (92% easy and 8% tempo paces)
  Sunday: 16.5 miles at 7:21/mi.
  Monday: 6 miles at 7:20/mi.
  Tuesday: off
  Wednesday: 7.5 miles at 7:16/mi.
  Thursday: 7 miles at 7:12/mi.
  Friday: 6 miles at 7:35/mi.
  Saturday: 3E, 2 x 2 miles T @ 6:15/mi. (3 min.), 1E (8 miles total)

I've been very busy over the last few weeks. But now I'm on Spring break, even though it's not yet Spring and the weather is not substantially different than it was on Winter break. Over that time my hip initially seemed better, then slipped back, and now seems to be stabilizing again. By now I'm getting used to living with at least some tightness down there even on good days, which I don't expect to go away until I build up a stronger "core" in general over time. At the end of the first week, on Feb. 16, I was encouraged to make it through 18 miles at a respectable, easy pace. My hip felt strong throughout, and I began thinking about trying a faster long run the next weekend and running the marathon on March 16 after all. I took a couple days off after that run simply because I was busy, which - together with not doing my next long run until the following Sunday - resulted in that week's mileage number turning out misleadingly low. But I got in an encouraging set of tempo intervals on Thursday of that week as well, with my hip again feeling stable. The set-back was on Sunday, Feb. 24, when I attempted a 20-miler in which I hoped to pick up the pace after halfway. The main problem was that it was very windy, and the wind was coming from a direction that made me run straight into it for miles 11-13 and then again from 16-20, in addition to generally blowing me around pretty much the whole time. My hip hurt much of the way, especially during and after running into the headwind in miles 11-13, which dampened my hopes of speeding up after halfway. When I turned back into the wind after 16 miles, it was just too much for me and I ended up stopping and taking the metro home. My hip continued to ache for several days after that. It loosened up only after I took an especially easy, slow day on Friday, which enabled me to get in a solid 2 x 2 mile tempo run on Saturday. I think that last Sunday pretty much killed any chances that I had of running the marathon on March 16. It was less windy the following day, and if I had been able to wait and attempt that run on Monday then maybe it would have gone well enough for me to attempt the marathon. But as it is that was my last real chance to get in a hard long run before March 16, and I don't see the point of running my 6th marathon when I haven't been able to do any hard long runs for two months because of an injury. Realistically, I could probably do the marathon, run 7:10/mi. pace for 15 miles or so (3:07 marathon pace), and try to pick it up from there if things were going well, hoping for maybe a 3:05 at best and likely still beating my current PR of 3:12 at worst. But I respect the marathon too much to tangle with that beast when I'm not properly trained for it, and especially when my head's not really in it. I'm looking forward to a lot of other Spring races as well, and in my current state of fitness running the marathon would either risk jeopardizing those other races or essentially amount to jogging 26.2 miles at my easy pace, neither of which I'm able to get excited about. So I'm going to do the half-marathon on March 16 instead, thanks to the RnR policy that allows registered runners to decide up until race day which race they want to run. Of course, I'm not in great half-marathon shape either, but my tempo runs are starting to come along and at least I can see the half as good training for the Cherry Blossom 10-miler three weeks later. Before my hip injury I had dreamed of running Cherry Blossom under 60 minutes, but that seems very unlikely now. Maybe 62-3 seems possible now, if my hip holds together, but I'll see how the half goes before setting goals. I might do the St. Patrick's Day 8k next weekend (March 10) just to shake some dust off and test out 5:58 or so pace for 5 miles. Then in the RnR half I might start around 6:30 pace and, after some mid-race hills, try picking it up to bring the pace down into the low 6:20's, which would be a 1:23-4 finish. At least those seem like non-crazy goals. It's March now - almost Spring - and time to start thinking about running fast!