Found It!

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I found my sock!

Rollercoaster Taper

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This ‘taper’ has proven to be a bit of a rollercoaster for me. I’ve gone from feeling fatigued for most my runs after the 20 miler to finally feeling refreshed on a mid week run, but today’s 10 wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped either. I’ve been worried about the warm weather, but am now encouraged by today’s weather shift. I’ve generally gotten my weekday runs in, but work took over this week so I only got in two. I’ve found some favorite running attire, but I could only find one sock from my favorite socks this morning. I’m trying to keep it all in perspective and remember RF and I have been diligent about our runs, aren’t injured and will be able to help each other finish the marathon. The best thing I can do for myself this next week is be positive. I really would like to find my sock though.

Looking for Rest

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Now that we’ve hit our max mileage and have moved into a taper mode, I’ve had to remind myself not to taper too much. I don’t think I’m burned out on running yet, but I look forward to the break. Yesterday I went for 13 miles and it wasn’t as easy as I feel it should have been. I think it has to do with the proximity to the 20 though. My consolation about the looming 26.2 right now is that my body will have had more rest than it did before yesterdays 13.

Confidence

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I’ve read articles from other runners about bad runs turning into a good run but not until yesterday have a really believed it. Our run started out feeling fairly average, but I would consider approximately miles 9 – 15 a bad run for me. I tried hard to exercise positive mental thinking but my mind game wasn’t quite winning. Once we headed up Summit, however, I actually found myself smiling. Maybe there was a bit of a grimace to the smile, but I knew we were going to make 20 miles. It might have been the stop at the satellite, the recent gu, the brief walk or the mental game was kicking in, but I decided I could keep my legs going. The run started to feel doable. In fact, we finished the run feeling the marathon will be doable. We knew the route was about 20.4 miles and briefly considered trying to make it 21 but decided to quit while we were ahead. It wouldn’t have felt good, but I definitely felt like I could have kept my legs going. Come to find out, our route was slightly more than 21 miles. I know we can make the last 5 now. In fact, RF and I agreed we felt better after the 21 than we did after our 18 mile run. I now know that if I hit a rough point during the marathon it will get better. This is what I needed to give me the confidence that we will complete it. I’m still nervous, but I know we can do it.

Sedgwick County Zoo

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I visited the Sedgwick County Zoo with my sister and her family during my trip to Kansas.

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Visiting Kansas

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My niece and the family dog:


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It was a good thing RF and I did Saturday’s run together because it was a physical and mental challenge that we pulled each other through (I definitely needed the majority of the pulling though). Since next weekend is another big run, we were only going to do 10 miles, but actually went for 14. I’m glad we made the extra mileage, but I was disappointed that 14 was not easy. I didn’t even start out fresh. My legs were sore and tired. I’m not sure if I need more rest, to eat differently or something else, but last night I even tried ice. I was proactively icing my knee and decided to roll over and ice the back of my thighs and calves. A friend once told me I needed ice baths and I think he was right. Icing my legs felt like spa treatment. It was relaxing and calming and with the ice, my legs no longer had the uncomfortable feeling they’d had all day. That could be because they were numb, but I appreciated it! And my legs do feel better today than they did all last week.

Sleeping In

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I only spent one night on a lake with friends for the holiday weekend for several reasons, but one main was that I wanted to run today. I wanted to keep the challenge going and not take too many rest days, especially after resting much of last week. However, as a friend reminded me, I love sleep and another good thing to do on a day off is sleep in. I tried to both sleep in and run so I wasn’t out running until after 10 am and therefore in about 80 degree heat. It wasn’t too hard on my legs to run the 7 miles, but but it took some extra mental power to push through the heat. But the sleep was worth it.