What's a taper? It's when you've done all your training up until 2 weeks or so before your big race and you get to slow down and relax and let your body heal up. I'm done with my last long run until my marathon. Finished the Seattle Half on Sunday. It was cold and hilly but I felt better on this race than I have in a long time. My injuries aren't completely healed but skipping my short weekday runs definitely made a huge difference (even though I felt incredibly guilty for what felt like cheating on my training schedule.) My foot and calf were not pain-free by any means but it felt doable. My right hip hurts now though because I was compensating. (It's always something, isn't it?)
It was 33 degrees out when the race started. I wore my thermal base layer and even purchased some gloves at the expo, so I was pretty prepared. A lot of people wore old hoodies they didn't care about and started stripping them off around mile 3. I saw a lot of people throwing them over the fence under I-90 at the homeless in their tents. I just took my gloves off and put them in my pocket. (Everyone should run in cycling gear btw. It's awesome... Especially for shoving all the race swag in the finisher shoot.)
I did the entire race by setting my watch to buzz intervals. 5 minute run/90 second walk. The only time I strayed from that was the huge hills near the arboretum. Ugh, hills! I was really trying to PR (2:50) but I made it in 3:05. Pretty close! If it wasn't for all the hills, I would have made it. I think I'm going to do these intervals the entire 26.2.
I "met" a Canadian lady online through the power of social media who will be in Honolulu with a team of Australians. She's kind of adopted me and told me she does that interval when she runs. Since it worked out so awesome, I'll be hanging out with her for the marathon. So at least I'm not solo anymore.
Although sometimes it's nice to run solo. Cheetah and Cousin took off at the start line and I chugged along with my music alone. And I loved it. I met a girl who was doing her first half marathon and she told me she was pacing me and would walk when I'd walk.
Here's a few race photos...
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| Foggy space needle |
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| The full marathon starting when I arrived |
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| Cheetah, Cousin, and me at the start line |
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| Lake Washington is over there somewhere. It would have been gorgeous! |
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| A spectator cheering people on up the hill. |
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| Careful! |
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| Ha. I was stopping my Garmin and a photographer says, "Hey! Stop checking your watch! You're done! You made it! Smile!" ...And this is what she got! |
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| Finisher photo. |
So, now I chill out. I have little 30 minute runs and one 6 miler before the marathon. Home stretch! I feel like I should celebrate that I've made it this far in my training and I feel ready. I read a quote the other day that said, "A marathon is hundreds of miles, the race is just the last 26.2". That's so true. I feel like I have a second part-time job. I barely see my friends anymore. It's going to feel like I have so much time when I'm finished!
We leave for Hawaii in 5 days! I won't lie, I'm freaking out a little. I posted this on Facebook yesterday but I'll say it here too... I had a dream last night that I was trying to run the Honolulu Marathon but my legs wouldn't work. It was like I was trudging through thick, imaginary mud for hours and hours. It was dark, late at night, and I was the last person on the course being followed by a street sweeper. All the water stops were already torn down. There was just a big Hawaiian guy looking annoyed waiting for me with a garden hose.
Yup. That better not happen.
