Ouch!

I think I may be suffering my first setback. 

Saturday my plan said "10 minutes very easy jog". Seemed hardly worth bothering with, and I wasn't sure what, if anything, it would add to my progress, but I went out anyway and did 20 minutes around the block (after 10 minutes I'd barely got anywhere), and felt proud of myself for sticking to the plan, even though my shins were quite sore, due to it being a bit chilly I think. Then on Sunday I was supposed to do an hour for my long run. The last couple of weeks I have been doing an hour, but that included my warm up and cool down walking, so yesterday I didn't start my Runtastic measuring app until I'd walked briskly to the end of the road and began running. I ran for an hour (with two tiny walks - no more than 200 yards total and up "hills"; I am so rubbish at any form of slope...) and switched off the app before the walk at the end. Total run time 63 minutes, 5.76 miles - that's an average of less than 11 minutes per mile which I was so chuffed with! And I felt pretty good physically too.

By the afternoon though my foot was causing me all kinds of grief and by bedtime I could barely stand on it. I had done my stretches straight after the run like I was supposed to and I'd actually kept more active during the day too which I hoped might have kept it looser and less inclined to stiffen up, but unfortunately the pain in my heel was as bad as it's ever been and has not really improved much today so I am a bit despondent now. Today was a rest day anyway (went to Bath to pick up our son from Uni which has been a good thing), and I think I need to take a couple more days just to rest it - all the advice for dealing with plantar fasciitis is primarily "rest", as if that's practical when training for a marathon - and see how we go. I'm also going to give blood tomorrow so a couple of days off is probably not a bad idea on that score too. I'm not going to panic unduly yet as there is still plenty of time to go but it's not good if it can't stand up to 5 miles is it?