Something about taper time has me going a little batty tonight! I am starting to second-guess myself... did I train enough? Am I ready? Will I totally struggle next week in Chicago? Do I have the perfect outfit?
OK, had to make myself laugh there. Truth be told, I am feeling good about Chicago. I have taken all pressure off of myself to finish in a certain time, or beat my boss, or any other expectations that might not make me enjoy my first marathon.
Yeah, I could have trained more. With the large amount of travel I do for my job, there are times training went to the way-side. There were weeks I only ran once (gasp!) and that was my long run. Oh well- life happens! I am hoping the brutal summer months of training will pay off in Chicago as I will not have to breathe through the muggy humidity and 90 degree heat. Yippppeee!!
Tomorrow morning is my last "long" run- 8 miles. I did a triple-take when I looked at weather.com and saw that it is supposed to be 59 degrees when I venture out to run tomorrow morning at 7:00 AM. 59 degrees WOOOOHOOOOO!!!! Where have you been, 50's? Even... 60's? Hell- where have the 70's been?
It is funny how much my view of running has changed over the last 16 months. I remember thinking my first half marathon was going to be impossible... how could I run 13.1 miles? I finished that race and thought I was going to die. I was sore for about two weeks and thought I could not push myself any further. Time went on... I got hooked on half marathons and did 3 more... each one getting easier. Now, I am running 13.1+ miles before work when I have to table my long runs. I rock!
Sadly, I realized my last race was back in the end of April- the Derby Festival Half. I have avoided letting myself cheat the long run by doing 5Ks and 10K races. Well, let's face it though... the racing season pretty much is nonexistent from May-September in Charleston. Too hot. Except if you are really crazy and train for a marathon. Make sense?
I love races. I really do. I love the excitement. I love looking around and thinking about how each of the people there made the same decision that I did to run the race. I think about how our journeys of preparation varied. I think about how we all run the same route and cross the same finish line- some in 2 hours like our Kenyan friends and some in 79 hours like me.
So, here we go. One more week. One more week of waiting, wondering, getting excited, etc.
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4 comments:
Good Luck!!!
You are going to have so much fun in a very sick & twisted kinda way;)
i think i had my taper self doubt day this past thursday. too much thinking had me worried about this and that. whats done is done. one week to go!!!!!!!
I too have been having the taper doubt this past week (as well as worry way too much about my outfit). You are going to do awesome! One week from now you will be sitting back having a beer congratulating yourself!
I'm sooo very happy for you!!! You've done wonderfully, and especially great considering you travel so much. You've run in other cities throughout your training, and kept it up!
You get an A!!
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