Rest In Peace, Legs

Unfortunately, I am altering my training schedule. I was really hoping to make it through this 21-week marathon training schedule verbatim, with no alterations or exceptions. I am 8 weeks into the training, and my legs just feel 'dead'. My run on Sunday was supposed to be 12 miles, but I had to cut it short at 7.5 miles. Yesterdays run was a slow, sloppy painful 3 miles.

(I am thinking out loud here) There are 2 different factors I am considering for this issue of mine. The first issue is my foot-strike. I notice that I pronate quite a bit, and I almost land fully on my arch when I run, with my toes pointed out a little bit. This is not an issue on shorter runs, nor is it an issue with a supportive shoe (no issue=no pain). When I was in Atlanta, and in a pinch, I bought Nike air Pegasus (which is a neutral cushion shoe, neutral cushion=no support against pronation). I have been running in these shoes for 4 weeks now, and am beginning to experience issues. (Right Achilles pain, Left outer knee pain....) Personally, I am leaning toward the shoe as the problem.

However, I went from sitting on the couch to running 4 times a week. (Well, I have never been a sedentary, or for that matter, overweight, person. I've been lucky and have always been able to keep up with my peers athletically. I haven't kept a running schedule in 10 years, however) This leads me to think that I've been running 20+ miles a week for 8 weeks now, and my legs are finally beginning to tire.

So, my solution is to go back to the running store (in which I work on the weekends) and buy another New Balance 1222, take the next 4 days off from running in order to rest for my 5k on Saturday. Hopefully, this is the only hiccup in my training.

PS: Today is my 3rd wedding anniversary. I love you Amber, you deserve a medal for putting up with all my crap.