Training for a marathon I might not run

We are now approaching the time where people training for spring marathons are hitting their biggest distances in training, and I am one of those people, sort of.

 I entered Brighton marathon in a blur of activity on the UKRunchat twitter page, where being egged on by various members, a load of us, I think about 50+, all entered Brighton marathon in the space of a few days. I was training for an Ultra at the time so it was a case of 'it should be alright, I'll be training for further than this distance so I know I'll be able to do it' but fast forward a few months and the ankle injury happened, which wiped me out for 8 months, meaning that I missed a few races that I'd already entered, but in the distance there was always 'Brighton' and the belief that I had time to get ready for it and give it a proper go.

 After being given the sort of all clear by the physio to start running just before Christmas, I have been slowly increasing the distance of my runs, although the ankle is still painful post run for a couple of days meaning that I can't seem to run more than 2 long(ish) runs per week. So remaining sensible I've not been pushing it too much and trying to do run more.
Half marathon distance came and went and the LSR's started to creep closer to the 20 mile bench mark that many recommend for marathon training. But I seem to have hit a bit of a wall, not THE wall, but a wall nevertheless, I'm getting to around 27/28k (just about 18 miles) when one of my calves, they take it turns, is tightening to the point that I can no longer run, leading to frustration and considering that maybe it's too soon to be (trying) to run a marathon.
If I run Brighton Marathon it'll be for Macmillan, who I always run for, but I haven't started fundraising yet as I want to make sure I can get to at least 20 miles before saying 100% I will run Brighton, on the day I don't want to get to 18-19miles and then being unable to run and having to hobble the rest of the way.

 Due to some pretty bad planning by myself, I've signed up to run half marathons (almost) every Sunday in March so LSR's are having to be done midweek. I've had a massage today which seems to have sorted the calves and so on Thursday at stupidly early o'clock I'll try and hit 30-32k, so after that if all goes to plan, I'll decide to run Brighton.

 On a totally unrelated note, here's the latest episode in this seasons Salomon Running TV which features some running in the Lake District, proper running.

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