marathon question from gwalker
 

He asked me to post it here on CG. Archaea?

Why don't you get hime to post over here. He is a good poster.

I don't know enough about his training, so I post that much caveat. If I knew more, I could give a better observation.

However, supposing he has sufficient base miles, and really doesn't care about his time, he can finish the marathon in St. George. Mileage is important for two main reasons, with a third looming in the background. First, it helps psychologically to work through distance so that you can do it come race day. Second, it aids in recovery. If muscles and systems have built up strength, you're not taxing them too much to go a little beyond what you've done before. Third, for improvement of time, you need to run the distance.

Thus, if he is willing to throw the time out the window and to know his recovery may be painful, then he should do it.

I can do a four hour marathon almost any time, but if I wish to do a fast marathon I need proper training.

I agree with Archaea's post and would add that enough base miles is also important for strengthening other foot and ankle structures, including plantar fascia, long plantar ligaments and the bones which may be susceptible to stress fractures.

If he's done it before, he can likely do it again. But risk of injury is going to go way up as compared to someone who has built up to it over a 2-4 month period.

This is all assuming that the 14.5 miler was the longest training run this season. If he's already done an 18 miler, then that would change things quite a bit.

The blister is also a cause for concern. If its fully healed then it should be no prob. If its still there, expect it to fester before too long on saturday.