Paranoia Sets In, But With Good Reason -- advice needed: Aug 4th

Hypochondria, FDA warnings, Internet rants, and nearly two months of shitty-shitty luck are making me paranoid as hell.  Here is the deal -- I had planned on beginning my training for my first half marathon (Neuse River Bridge Run) next week.  However, as you may well know if you are one of my regular readers, I have been sick for most of the last six weeks.  Currently, I am on a bunch of drugs, which have me feeling a lot better but still not nearly 100%.  Also on of the drugs I am on is Levofloxacin the generic form of Levaquin, which has a nasty habit of turning tendons in dried twigs and producing spontaneous tendon ruptures.  I remembered reading  a post by Adam about an antibiotic that he was on a few months back and the two are in the same family: Levofloxacin is Cipro's bastard cousin.

Paranoia Agent

Compounding my paranoia is the fact that I have had plantar fasciitis problems in the past and usually KT the heck out of my feet and ankles just as a precaution, which I plan to do once I start running.  I only have four days left on the antibiotic and doubt if asking my doctor to change at this point is worth it.  Plus, it does seem to be helping with my illness, which already survived a Z Pack.  Also, I'm beginning to worry about my readiness for my half marathon because I lost most of July to this illness.  Granted in June I was way ahead of where I needed to be and was already doing nine mile long runs.  I think that if I can shake my illness, I might be able to get back into the train groove quickly. 

I guess my questions are how worried should really be about the Levofloxacin?  Has any of you had any experience with this drug?

Also, do you think that I should adjust my training program to a 8 or 9 week schedule?  I have seen a lot of 9 week programs, if I went two 8weeks I could use the next two weeks to ease myself into working out, but do you think 8 weeks is enough time? Any advice would be a huge help.