The DREADED taper!

Well, we've started the DREADED TAPER. If you're a marathoner, you know how difficult it can be to go from high mileage to pretty low mileage right before a race. While it's a necessary step of preparing for race day, it's also very difficult. Have you ever had a time you couldn't work out? On vacation and couldn't fit it in (not that I think that is a valid excuse), injured, sick, insanely busy with life? Do you remember how you felt while you couldn't work out? Probably like shit! You probably felt like a lazy lump of crap! Yep, that is how I feel when I taper. The first week isn't terrible because we still had a 12 miler this last Saturday and I also squeezed in a quick 5 yesterday since our prior week was thrown off a bit from running on Monday rather than Saturday.

I'm dreading the decline in miles for a few reasons. 1: I need the endorphin release that I get from long runs to balance myself. I'm a busy woman with a lot of stuff on my plate (just like every other woman in America), and I need my running to keep me moving and 2: I need the long runs so that I can eat more! I love food, but I'm 5'2" . . . . I can't eat whatever I want and maintain my lady figure! So I have to eat reasonably right now, which is fine, but I just like to eat extra on my long run days

Angie and I had an OK 12 miles. It started out rough and it took a bit for us to find our groove and enjoy the miles versus dread each step. After my long holiday weekend and 45 miles of exercise (25 mile bike & 20 mile run) as well as coming out of high mileage, I was ravenously hungry. I could not stop eating last week. I was ALWAYS hungry. I almost was embarassaed by how hungry I was and how much I was eating. I'll chalk it up to pretty high mileage over the last 3 weeks.

I'm pretty sure 75% of the food I ate went right to my legs because they felt very heavy on Saturday for our run. I'm really hopeful that this isn't a sign of fatigued legs for the marathon, which is 13 days away! I need to focus on really allowing myself to scale back right now, mileage and pace.

We finished fine and it felt so fast compared to running 20 miles last week. We hardly had a chance to talk about everything we usually talk about during our long runs.

An amazing thing happened on Saturday. . . . our Garmin watches hit 12 miles at the EXACT SAME TIME! If you run with anybody else, you know this rarely happens. Angie and I have a "GOLDEN GARMIN RULE" . . . . we continue running until the last garmin beeps that final mile. Sometimes it can be for more than 10 or 15 seconds longer which doesn't seem like much, but when your Garmin hits 20 miles and you have to keep running because your running buddy's hasn't gone off yet, you dread each freaking step. We both looked at each other in amazement that they went off at the same time. We might have even kept running while we checked with each other that they really both went off at the same time.

I'm working towards an insurance designation, so after our 12 mile run on Saturday, I spent a little time studying. . . . pretty exciting stuff. BUT. . . when I'm cocktailing in Hawaii in a few years because of this sweet designation, you'll be jealous then! That is another reason to keep marathoning. . . . . so I have a swimsuit body for Hawaii.

Exciting Saturday Afternoon: Napping Child, Dt. Pepsi, and Business Law for Insurance Professionals!  -anybody jealous of that last one?  -didn't think so!

If I can do anything positive for my child, it is to teach him the importance and joy of excercise. I don't expect him to LOVE being a runner some day, but I want him to always be active and healthy. There are so many benefits to being in shape and being active. Turning the TV off more than it's on and getting outside to be in the fresh air is a gift for our kids. I try to keep him active as much as possible.

"Mom, I'm going for a run"   --I love hearing those words!

So if you're a parent. . . . you've heard the comment "oh, they grow up so fast!" Yes, yes they do. I can't believe that my sweet little boy is going to 3k. I know it's a little crazy to have them start school so young because they are only little once. . . . their job right now is to have fun and play. But his school is really just a glorified playdate, where I get to leave and be at work versus chasing him around and telling him not to hit and take toys and to be sure to share and tell him to not say naughty words. That's on the teacher now! He'll interact with other children, listen to a teacher, have a structured learning environment and only for 5 hours per week. It isn't crazy intensive stuff here. Just a little fun to get him interested in school at a young age.

Orientation for 3k.  Starts tomorrow!

There is no link to my blog as to why the next few pictures are in here. . . . just my little buddy making his usual blog appearance. Gotta love this cute little dude and his daily comments that make me wonder if he's actually older than 3.5.

What a sweet boy watching cartoons in my bed in the morning.

Another nap-time stalling tactic: "Mom, I have a situation to talk about about"   --but really he didn't have anything important to say.

My Shoes came in the mail this week! I was like the little boy on "A Christmas Story" waiting for my package to come in the mail. I ordered my race shoes so I could have them in time to break them in before the big day. I'd like to have 20-30 miles on them before I actually race. Enough to just make sure any weird quirks are out and they are laced perfectly. Now that I know my shoe and my size, I don't need to walk into a running store and try them on. I just order the Brooks Ravenna's (used to be 3, now it's 4) and size 7. Easy Peasy! These baby's look monsterous in the picture, but honestly, I have small feet! In any other shoe than running shoes I'm a 6.5 so I tend to get lucky in finding some cute shoes.

Yep. . . . Race Day kicks!  Pretty excited!  Before you know it, I'll have 350-400 miles on these babies and have to retire them.

Well, as an advance warning, since I'm tapering, you might want to avoid me, I could get crabby while I'm running less and probably eating more!

How do you feel when you don't work out? How does tapering affect you?

~Brooke~