A Runner's Nightmare - Nursing an Injury Before the BIG RUN!

I am a little more than a week away from my first half marathon.  Anyone who has been reading my posts knows that I have been training and the excitement that comes with this race.  Yes, I'm doing it for the sticker on the back of my car but it really is about more than that.  I'm a runner and it has changed my life.  I read somewhere on a runners' website that "If you want to change your body exercise.  If you want to change your life RUN".

Anyway, the last three or four weeks I have been getting sharp pains in my knee and my right leg.  Excruciating sharp pain but I'm stubborn as hell so I just keep pushing through the distance.  At first it was only when I was running but now it's when I'm walking and even sometimes when I'm sitting still. :(  This is a nightmare.  Trying to nurse an injury right before the race is a runner's nightmare.  Especially, if it is a race that you have trained so hard for.  So, far I have tracked 210 miles of my training.  This is as close to accurate as I will get.  THERE IS NO WAY I'M NOT RUNNING THIS RACE.  I will grit and bare through the pain then take my lil' stubborn ass to the doctor afterwards.  Sounds crazy huh? Well, I find it logically which probably means it's not logical. I've already paid for the race.  I've already put in 210 miles training and I really want that damn car sticker.  Right now, I'm taking it easy and only plan to run an additional 15 miles before the race.  No, not at one time but over the course of three days.

Things I know I did wrong while training:

• Not stretching adequately pre and post runs.
• Not properly cross-training
• Not wearing walking shoes when I walk to work.  Wearing flats and walking shoes are two totally different things.  The hills on Peachtree Road are deadly.
• I wear heels to work and out! 

This could be a lot worse and I could not be able to run at all.  The worse part of it now is my time will most likely be more than I would like it to be.  I wanted to finish in 2:15 but I'm sure we can add several minutes to that now.  So much for my average of 10 minutes per mile or less.  But I have to remember: MY RACE MY PACE!