Well, I never thought I would see this day (honestly). I figured that so many things would go wrong, whether it be injury or lack of motivation or even just lack of time to actually DO the runs...that I would not see the training completed. Yet here I am.
Before I begin the weekly summary, let me tell you that my foot is to about 98% full strength.
That being said, I really had to control myself this week and take the advice from my friends and family who kept telling me to NOT add additional mileage to my runs now that I am back from injury. All week I kept talking about how I was going to up the mileage...but every time I hit the pavement, common sense took over and I simply played it safe. That is not to say that I didn't run harder than I normally would - because Wednesday's 8 miler was a scorcher. But I ran smarter all week.
Today (Saturday) was my final long run before marathon day. I had debated whether to run 18 or 20 miles, and if I had not gotten injured I would have gone 20. As a result I ran 18 miles today (walking only .5 mi from 16.5 to 17.0). My time came in at a very consistent 3:55:24 for a 13:24/mi average. I am really not too pleased with the min/mi average, but I think it is important to note that the last 1/4 mi I got to get into about a 10:50 pace or so.....this tells me that I still had some gas left in the tank, and that my pace was just fine.
The pace WAS fine, but OH MY SWEET JESUS did it hurt. I haven't felt that way since the Carlsbad 1/2 Marathon, and even then it really didn't feel this way. This was, simply put, an absolute assault on the muscles in my legs. I really didn't feel too hot the whole way. I would say I felt good when I got out of the car, and when I got back into the car to leave - but even then I wasn't all that "peppy". :-) This tells me, in a nutshell, that the marathon will take it all ~ all my strength, all my power, all my love. Everything I've got, just to finish.
But I will finish - make no mistake about it.
So that's it. I went to the acupuncturist today and got a nice "tune up" on the foot. Things seem to be going well. I will probably have two more sessions before race day to make sure I am ready.
This week is week #1 of tapering. The weekday runs stay the same - (mon-5mi),(wed-8mi),(thu-5mi) while Saturday's run drops down to 10 miles. 28 miles for the week.
I am looking forward to completing my journey.....
Bill
(2) Mileage dedications this week. Aubrey(20) & Lori(21)
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