Change of Pace

In case you're curious...210 drinks for the year and 788 miles.
And in case you're obsessive, here are the last 3 weeks.

Or would that be a running Tapir? I love synonyms homonyms.

Tomorrow will mark exactly two weeks before my marathon and it's definitely time for me to be thinking about the taper. I began this morning by not running at all, but that's only because I stayed up too late last night and slept through my alarm. And I thought physical fitness was meant to give you more energy.

I realize it's early though. The next two weeks should be interesting, just in terms of gauging my energy levels. Some runners complain of feeling jittery and restless once they start cutting down on the mileage, while others actually feel more fatigued. Alison claims to have felt both at once! It's amazing how much has been written on the topic...a quick google search turns up far more on the subject that any anxious marathoner should be reading. At the very least though, I figure I should read my coaches' advice on the subject.

I'm most looking forward to resting my legs enough to get that springy, elastic feeling back. Lately they've just felt heavy and leaden no matter what pace I'm running. I have a feeling that a sports massage would help with that as well, but I'm poor and cheap and relatively uninjured, so I probably won't bother with that until after the marathon. As long as I keep up my regular stretching routines, I think I should feel loose and rested on the 18th.

In an ideal world, I would be mentally preparing for my race right now. I would be doing a lot of stretching in the mornings, going to sleep early every night, eating really well and most importantly, keeping my mind calm and focused on the task ahead. Instead I've been scattered and frantic and preoccupied with a million different things.

Everything that absolutely must get done, will get done, one way or another. I know I just need to relax and allow the next ten days to go as smoothly as possible, but it does sometimes really feel as if the walls are caving in. Breathe, Chelle, breathe....

On the bright side, Alison is coming to town so I'll have company in the park for the next couple of mornings, nothing hurts when I run, I have a place to stay in Duluth and once this marathon is over with, I'm looking forward to having a very good rest of the summer. Maybe I can even work on evening out the discrepancy between my running and my drinking which as of this moment is: Miles 825, Drinks 216.

Since time immemorial I have watched the movie Bloodsport as part of my pre-marathon routine. Something about Jean-Claude Van Damme beat to a pulp by that big Chinese fighter Chong Li, and watching him rise up, even blinded by the poison powder that was thrown in his face, and emerge triumphant in the final match of the no-holds-barred, full-contact fighting championship, the kumite. Obviously, I just watched the thing. I now have my very own copy of the DVD even, after finding it on sale at Tower for the princely sum of $8. I need to keep an eye out for a sale copy of GI Jane as well. That works too….that scene where Demi Moore kicks her Master Sergeant’s pompous ass? That’s better than PowerGel at Mile 20 of the marathon.

I also need to eat pesto the night before the race. I think my St. Paulian hosts are planning on making spaghetti with sauce tomorrow night, so I’m bringing my own jar. I’ll even share.

That’s about it. I’m really not all that superstitious. I like a little quiet time to myself before the race starts to get myself focused and I have certain little dietary habits that keep my tummy functioning reasonably well under duress, but I don’t have any lucky socks or jewelry or odd, quirky rituals. What about Bloodsport you might ask? Hey! That’s a damn good movie.

I probably won’t blog again until I get back to my little island home, so if anyone just can’t bear to wait to hear about Saturday…results should be posted here.

Race Entry to Grandma's Marathon: $60
Housing at St. Scholastica College: $75
Plane Ticket to Minneapolis: $298
Two Days Car Rental and Tank of Gas: $65
A Marathon Time of 2:59:59: Priceless

Well..it would have been anyway. At the very least I wanted to beat the woman who withdrew her offer of housing in Duluth, but in the end she whupped me soundly, finishing about 7 and a half minutes ahead of me. After 8 brilliant miles and 18 painful ones that tested the fibre of my soul, I crossed the finish line under a clock that read 3:03 flat. (My chip time was 8 seconds faster.) That's a six minute PR for me and while I am disappointed that I didn't break three hours, I'm still very happy with how the race went.

It's easy to second guess yourself after the fact...I should have gotten more sleep the few nights before the race, I should have arrived in Minnesota a day earlier, I shouldn't have raced a 5K the weekend before, I should have run the first few miles more conservatively, I should have slurped down one more energy gel, I should have worn different shoes...but that's really just a futile mind game. When it comes down to it, I'm not thinking, "I should have trained harder." As for my next try at the holy grail of marathon times though? I'm going to train harder.

Duluth itself was beautiful. Unexpectedly so. When I came over the rise of Route 35 and saw the city spread out far below me on the edge of the lake, it was really breathtaking. I hadn't realized what a dramatic setting it was. I don't think I'll be buying property up there any time soon without finding out just how bad the winters really are, but the (short) summers must be heavenly. In hindsight, I would have liked to have had another day to just explore the area, but there wasn't any way for me to change my plane ticket to Sunday.

I'll post my mile splits tomorrow, so everyone can judge and condemn me for my foolhardy pipe dream of 2:55, but when I was there in the moment, I just felt like going for it. Yes, I "died" over the last few miles of the race, but "dying" at the end used to mean 10-minute-miles and now it's more like 7:30s, so I definitely am a better, smarter runner now. This sub-three thing is going to happen eventually, I have no doubt.

You guys are awesome. Thanks for the perspective on all this, I'm actually feeling much better about the race just after reading all the comments on my last couple of posts.

I will take it easy for a while, as much out of necessity as by choice. Besides, I just straightened my hair so I'm can't sweat for the next few days or I'll have to wash it. I haven't used my rollerblades in ages, so that'll probably count as my exercise for a while.

I updated my PRs here and since I've been so chart-happy lately (and since another blogger did ask) I've put together a rough history of my marathoning career. I don't remember/know all of the exact times, but this should be about right. I'll update it if I can track down the specifics on the seconds.