Taper Madness

Well, I'm not really in the throes of Taper Madness yet, BUT I know I will be in about 10 days.

Why?

Because The Chicago Marathon is merely 3 weeks away. That means 21 days until one of the best days of each year. And what makes it better? My Husband is coming! He didn't attend last year and though I had tons of fun bonding with my Father, I missed my better half. He keeps me grounded, happy and humble. Humble, mostly. ;)

I logged my longest run of the summer/year at 20.23 miles yesterday (who's counting the .23? Oh wait, I am) in 3 hours. It was definitely an awesome run. Started around 45 degrees and I think it actually dropped by the end. When you run that far, you can hit up all parts of town and some of the country too. My dad of course logged 24 miles (show off!!), and 4 hours. So really...I'm more awesome, right?

So now begins the daunting task of resting, less miles and more stretching, good nutrition and mind pumping. I find taper more daunting because your mind/body plays tricks on you. Did that hurt before? What if I'm not good enough? Did I train enough?

I know the answer to that last question. NOPE, I didn't train enough. But what I DID do is make the best of the situation. I listened to my body, took the extra time to ride/cross-train and then got back to the streets when I was ready. THAT, is what I did. I can only trust that I know my body can do this.

Also, I got new shoes last week. Asics Kayanos. Yes, I am spoiled...I had used Brooks Trance series for the last 2 years and they just didn't seem to be wearing well. I'm talking running through to the mid-sole only about 350 miles into the life of my shoes. I hope these Asics do better, they should...they were a pretty penny.

AND, AND I love Bio-Freeze. My knees were mad at me yesterday, might have something to do with the fact that I helped schlep shingles up a ladder yesterday at my BIL's house. Okay, only ONE bundle, but that counts!

*eying the clock* SOMEONE needs to stretch. Ugh.

Welp, I owe a few blogs here!

Okay, first things first, or is it First thing...first? Whatever.

The Marion Arts Festival 5k. I was asked to join by H and his sisters. I was afraid they wouldn't enter and we'd run it alone. NEVER fear, they came through.

We showed up in muggy nearly 70 degree weather, overcast the skies ready to break, but they held out. The race did start promptly at 8 am, which I was VERY thankful for. There is nothing worse than a race that languishes with the anthem, blithering, talking, *asphinctersayswhat*, annnoyingggg. But nope, "ready, set, GO!" was all we heard. And Matt and I were off with the herd of people.

I knew my chances were good, no garmin, I was nice enough to lend it to Matt and let him track his pace. I eventually let him go about 1.2 miles into the race, and kept myself at a nice pace, even though I had no clue what it was.

I rounded the last turn, saw the clock and it was around 22:40 and knew I was okay with that. I crossed the finish line at 23:05, and found Matt immediately. The jerk *I mean that lovingly of course* had finished in 22:23 and was "okay" with that. We headed off to get our placements, and I placed 3rd in my division. ATHENA, for the bigger gals. heh. I'll take it.

We waited for Matt's sisters to finish, 33 and 38 minutes VERY respectably, go ladies!!

I collected my glass football/ashtray/paperweight/bludgening device and we made a quick decision to eat with family at a restaurant. Now, the best part of the day? The race. The not so best part? The food. That restaurant gets a loud *womp womp*

Check out the pictureage!

Look, I CAN run!

But...not finish. Apparently I was feeling it!