Oct 29, 2009

8 days and counting

I am not far away from race day. Ready to get it done. My knee is feeling MUCH better, but still not 100%. I'm being quite careful with it. My diet has been better the past 2 weeks and I feel really good. Everything is booked. And as a surprise, my father is going to drive to Indy from Lima, OH and join us. That means a lot to me. As much as I tried to downplay my disappointment from my Flying Pig DNF, I think he knows how crushed I was about it. So he has decided to come in on Friday and watch the race. No small feat for a guy who's been suffering from Parkinson's Disease for the past 7-8 years. He doesn't get around great anymore, but he does manage without help. It's slow, but it's better than not at all. So to see him AND my wife cheering me on will be great. I'm really looking forward to it.

FTR, tapering sucks. I hate not being able to go run for as long as I want. These 5-6 mile runs seem to be over before they even start. I'll do 8-10 on Saturday, so that'll be OK, but still not the same. I understand the idea behind a taper period, and I'm not going to argue with it, but the longer I go without a good, long run, the more doubt creeps into my brain. I don't want to go out for a "nice, little run". I want to go RUN! Just run, and decide on my own when to stop. To be able to just keep going, on those days when I feel great. Ya know? I hope Saturday gets a little of that anxiousness out of my system.

Hope everyone is running well & feeling well, whether gearing up for a race, recovering from one, or just out there hitting the roads.

3 comments:

  1. man, oh man. I LOVE the taper. Live for it. Just chill, dude. Keep up the intensity (do your speedwork), but in fewer miles.

    fyi - in both of my last marathons I tapered more than the plan said I should have (due to my having been out of the country on business the weeks before both) and in both I PR'd!

    You're definitely not losing fitness as long as you keep up speedwork here and there - and even if you don't as long as it's not been 2 weeks since your last run.

    good luck! Kick butt!

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  2. Oh what race are you doing? Am I being a bad reader and forgot to notice? Good luck

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  3. Live for the taper?!? Oh, man. No way. Not me. I can't stand the feeling that I'm just sitting around, waiting for race day. LOL. But I've heard many people say how they like it, like they're ready to explode on race day, which I guess is a good thing.

    My intensity is still there, which is the only thing saving me. If I had to just trot around, super slowly, I wouldn't even bother to taper. I couldn't do it. I love that tinge of fatigue after a good run. But I hear ya, save it for race day. And I'm trying. I just don't like it! =)

    Julie, Indy Monumental on Nov. 7th.

    And I'll take all the luck I can get. No repeat performances allowed!

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