Achilles injury- HELP!

I was doing a litle trail running this weekend and when I stopped I noticed a nasty pain in my left achilles tendon. I thought it was just from running a bit hard lately but the pain hasn't gone away even after a couple of days of RICE. Here's the real concern: I am suppposed to run a marathon on sunday. Is there anything I can do to help me get through this thing. It is my first marathon and I really want to finish. Since the whole achilles fiasco, I will settle for finishing and am not going to worry about time, although I still want to beat Oprah and P Diddy.

I'd definitely go see a doc who specializes in sport's medicine. If it is simply enflamed a quick steroid shot might be the ticket so you can run this weekend.

Note: This is NOT the best option for your long-term health, but the risk might be worth the reward in this case. The important thing is to assess the potential for long-term damage if you do decide to run.

FWIW... I blew out my Patella tendon the week before Boston (this was 20-some years ago). Scarfed down something like 4 times the recommended dose of OTC painkillers right before the start. Got as far as leering at those lovely Wellesley girls before it stiffened up completely (my knee, don't be so rude) and I couldn't run any further. Spent a good couple of months in PT before I could run again.

Would I do that again? Would I recommend anybody else to do it?

Probably "No" on both counts, but at the end of the day it's going to be your call. As it's your first the dynamics are a little different. But think about it - you could run another Marathon as your first. You're probably not going to lose that much of your training gains as a first-timer... but where's Tico when you need him to weigh in on the subject of running marathons in less than 4 hours? Seriously, if you've gone through the training your body has developed to a level it likely won't lose quickly, so getting ready for something in a month or so wouldn't be that difficult.

Just don't be too quick to dive on a "desperation" race - I did that with a Sri Chinmoy Marathon in February in Flushing Meadow Park some years back. 26 x 1-mile loops (plus a bit). The entire roadway was covered in ice for about a twenty foot stretch, so once every mile you went skating. Plus it was too cold to be running that far. Plus there's only so much of that singing from the Sri Chinmoy Ladies' Choir or whatever they were. "Run, run, run, run, run, run...Run, run, run, run, run, run..." I was winning when I dropped out at half way. I think it was the ice, but it may have been the singing. Funny, ice keeps coming back to haunt me...

Pick something you'd like to run, make it a goal for your recovery and enjoy it. But that's just what I'd do now.

After taking the advice of my brother who is an athletic trainer, I (as he put it) stretched the shit out of it 6x a day, stayed off it all week, went through a regimen of ice for a few days and heat for one, and it was fine.
The rest of me however, was not as good.

Now I know what "the wall" is. Oh well, I did it, learned from my mistakes (I hope) and will try to do better next time.

I finished in 3:49. Tico was right, it's not that hard to run a sub 4 hour marathon if you train a little. In my case, a very little.

How much did you train?
What was your regular training week?
I run at least weekly and have been adding miles every month or so.
I have been trying to guage myself to see how far I could run. Been planning on taking off one saturday to see how far I could go and in what time. I would just hate to enter an event and not be able to finish. Time is not a concern to me, finishing is everything.

Congrats on finishing. And I think more important is the coping with an injury and still performing. Well done.