Tapering!

Wow, I am finally to the tapering stage for the NY Marathon! Now, I only have 15 miles to look forward to this weekend! It has been a struggle to get here. No sugar coating the devotion it takes to participate in marathon training. I still do not feel ready. And I did not get that svelte body of my fellow friends who run marathons! I still have my "jelly belly" as my kids call it but I do have some mean looking calf's! In fact, they are so big I saved $120 on Hunter boots as I could not get them over my calf!

I am still the same ol' me...BUT I am much happier for it. I have discovered beautiful areas of Portland on my new walk/jogs and found an inner strength that despite my inability to move quickly that I can move slowly and still relish in the accomplishment. After my collapse of the last 20 mile outing, I quickly made a trip to the best bookstore in the world, Powell's and grabbed a used edition of one of the Galloway training books. I quickly jumped on board his method of running only 2 mid-week runs and adapted his method of incorporating walking into my long runs. I cautiously tested this method on my 12 mile run and completed my outing about 15 minutes faster. I still felt tired and beat to a pulp but it was better. Then the next weekend presented the last 20 mile outing. I decided to jog 5 minutes and walk 1 minute. To my pleasant surprise, I completed my training 20 minutes fast than the last time! In addition, I was still standing and really did not feel to bad until about 18 miles. The mid week outings are the tough times.

I am seeing a great therapist for my hip pain and gait. Dr. Justin Whittker is trained in Active Release Techniques and has very helped this 49 year old get through her training. I am sure I must bring some amusement to him as I listen to him tell me how he is helping at the NY Marathon and working with some of the top athletes. I listen to how some of the men athletes complete 13 miles in just one hour and how fast they hope to do the marathon. I figure they will be crossing the finish line as I am embarking on about my 6th mile! I hope they will circle back and join me to pace my next 20.2 miles! I just realized he must get to work in one of those warm tents they have for the elite athletes...hmmmm. As I hear, the worst part of the marathon is waiting at the start for 2-3 hours in the cold. I certainly hope we get blessed with some nice temperatures.

Got my shoes, socks, new insoles and checking in one more time with a foot specialist to see if we can eliminate some of the pressure on my right foot. It definitely is my gait and my right leg is just so much stronger than my left. At this point, with only 2.5 weeks to go, I think I will just go for it. I have raised over $4,000 to date and would obviously like to raise more. I wish I had more time to fund raise but I do have a job, kids and remodeling our house! I think my 86 year old mother is in need of her daughter back. Soon I keep telling everyone!

No run today....it just makes me so happy to know I don't have to go out! Happy training