Things I Have Learned (Part VI)

1. Worms are slippery.
2. Sometimes a 6-mile run can seem long even when you've proven that you can do 20 miles.
3. It's amazing how a little thunder and lightning can improve my split time.
4. iPod + rain = not so good.

Another rest day?

Today is a rest day. Or should I say, another rest day. It feels weird to have so many off days. And the days I am running or cross training I'm doing much less. I'm in the tapering part of the training and it just feels odd. Sometimes I panic and think "What am I doing?! I have to run 26.2 miles next Sunday!! I should be out there running every day!!!" But the experts know what they're talking about. I did this tapering for the half-marathon last year and it worked just fine. I trust in the program. It's just hard to fight the urge to run farther or more often. I feel restless. Today I rest. My "long" run on Saturday is 6 miles. That will take me less than an hour to do. After that my next long run will be the race - all 26.2 miles of it.

Two weeks and counting

Ok, I'm getting nervous. I'm not too proud to admit it. In two weeks I'll be running 26.2 miles. Or at least trying to. When I think about it, really think about it, I know I can do it. I know I can finish. But then I realize it's more than that. I don't just want to finish... I want to finish well. I think I said this exact thing last year before the half (and if I weren't so lazy I'd look back at those posts and verify that). Half of the course I've done before, since the half marathon is simply the first half of the full course. There is supposedly a not-so-nice hill on the second half of the course somewhere. I think this is what scares me most of all. I'm not familiar with that part of the city so I have no idea what this hill is like. I'd feel more comfortable knowing the lay of the land, knowing how much energy I should be reserving for that hill. I suppose this is one of those parallels with life... you don't always know what's coming up so you just have to do the best you can when you get there. And I will, of course. But I'm still nervous.

The big 2-0

Well, I did it. I ran 20 miles today. How did it go? Let's just say, it wasn't easy. In fact, in the last two miles I wanted to stop and walk so many times I lost count. But I never did. I was checking my pedometer every 20 seconds to see how much further I had to go, disappointed each time that the number was still so large, but I kept on going. Sort of like a half dead, hallucinating energier bunny. Now that's a nice image.

I'm a bit sore from the run but surprisingly not as sore as I was when I did 18 miles a couple of weeks ago. Still, it's a bit sad when you have to actually use your hands to help lift your leg up on to the couch. Nothing a little ibuprofen and rest won't fix. I'd kill for a hot tub right now.

Now the tapering starts. Next Saturday my long run is only 10 miles. The week after that it's down to 6. A week later it's race day. I still don't see how I'm going to make the jump from 20 miles to 26.2 miles but I guess I'll just jump off that bridge when I get to it. Based on today's run I think it's safe to say that, if I manage to cross the finish line, I'm not going to be one of those people smiling and waving their arms and jumping around. I'll just be trying to remain upright.

4 weeks to go

I can't believe there are only 4 weeks left until the race. I'm not ready. This coming Saturday I will do my longest long run... 20 miles. I know I can do it. I just did 18 last week. But it still seems so unreal. I think I've convinced myself that I'll finish the race. The only question that remains is what kind of time I'll be able to make.

My foot is almost completely healed. It only gives me a little discomfort every now and then during a run but really nothing worth mentioning. I'll consider myself very lucky since I basically ignored my doctor's advice and managed to get away with it. With my injury out of the way the only thing to worry about for race day is weather. It's only recently started getting cold. It hasn't been bad at all, really. Yesterday I had to run in a bit of rain but it was pretty warm outside so it wasn't a big deal. The average temperature on race day is 45 degrees at the start of the race. I remember thinking that sounded so cold last year. Now that I've run through a winter here 45 degrees seems just fine.

I've got plenty of things to keep my mind occupied during these next 4 weeks. This is good because otherwise I might start obsessing about the race.

high and short, low and long

This past week I was running at 7000+ feet. Gratefully all of my runs were short ones (6-ish miles and under). The altitude kicked my butt. Then I came back home and ran 18 miles at near-sea level. For some reason that didn't seem any easier. In fact, it kicked my butt moreso. I think I prefer the short runs at high altitude, quite honestly.

I have 5 weeks left until the race. I have one more long run... 20 miles. I know I can do it but it would be nice if it didn't make me feel like I was going to die. A month ago I wasn't sure I would make it this far. I wish I could say I was more confident about finishing the race. There's a bit of a gap from 20 miles to 26.2. Of course, I'll still be out there on November 23rd lining up with all of the other crazy people.

Where's a hot tub when you need it?

I ran 16 miles yesterday. The last two were hard, very hard, but I finished. And my foot isn't feeling any worse than it usually does, so that's good. I'm stiff and sore today. Hell, I was stiff and sore yesterday right after I finished the run. A soak in a hot tub would be bliss but unfortunately I don't have access to one. I suppose a regular tub would do but it will have to wait. Life is too hectic at the moment to allow for a long hot soak.

I'm grateful to have a rest day today. I always get a rest day after my long runs but it means more now that the mileage is getting up there. I have 6 more "long" runs before the race. The mileage goes 8-18-8-20-10-6. When I think about how hard it was to add two miles on to the long run yesterday I get very nervous about having to add 6 additional miles on to my longest run in order to finish the race! If going from 14 to 16 was hard how am I supposed to go from 20 to 26?! I know they say adrenaline carries you part of the way but what I want to know is who is going to carry me home when I collapse?