Welcome to Taper Town

Well, as of today I am an official resident of Taper Town. Let the manic obsession and self doubt begin.



As soon as I woke up this morning and entered my last 20 mile run into my logbook, I started to wonder if I was really ready for this marathon.

"I only ran 30.5 miles this week?"

"I haven't been cross training or lifting at ALL for the past two weeks!"

"What if we get a freak heat wave on race day?"

"I think I need new shoes."

"How should I carry my Gu if I'm not going to wear my fuel belt?"

"I shouldn't have eaten those chocolate chip cookies last night."

"Or the pizza."

"Or the beer."

"I know I felt pretty good on this last 20 miler, but I still have SIX miles to go for the marathon and honestly I was pretty tired at the end."

"Sure I have run half of this course about 30 times, but maybe I should drive it tomorrow just to see what it's like."

"I'm no runner, who the hell am I trying to kid?!?!"

"Maybe I should just change my goal to a 5 hour finish...

I swear to you, I had all of these thoughts run through my head in the span of 10 seconds.

But then I remembered that all these thoughts were perfectly normal and I was just going to have to find a way to drown them out over the next three weeks. Yes, I may not log as many miles as other runners; yes I like to drink beer and eat pizza; yes, it may rain or suddenly get up to...GASP...70 degrees, but I can handle it. I am not running for anyone else, I am running for me. And so far, I have been doing pretty well.

So as I said, my last 20 miler was great. Once again, the weather was cool and it was another beautiful day to run. I only got about 5 hours of sleep the night before so I was a little tired for the first 5 miles, but after than I was warmed up and ready to roll. We started out slower (9:50-10:00mm pace) for the first 5 miles, then picked it up for an overall pace of 9:42. (19.81 miles - 3:12:30/9:42 pace). We took about 8 minutes off our last 20 mile time and felt good at the end...not great, but I think I can handle that pace for 26.2. I'll be tired, but I don't think it's impossible, if all the other factors go my way.

So with this last long run under our belts I think my plans A, B & C for the Philadelphia Marathon are as follows:

Plan A: Beat my last (only) marathon time from last year's Columbus Marathon for a new PR - 4:36

Plan B: A sub 4:20. With that time I will have beaten Oprah, which makes me happy (4:29). I would like to beat Sarah Palin's time (3:59) but I'm not quite there yet. I'll leave it up to Obama and Biden to beat her this time around. (Oh snap!)

Plan C: A sub 4:15 - Jeremy says we can totally do this.

I would LOVE to run a sub 4:15, but I know the marathon Gods all have to be rooting for us for this to happen, so I will be happy with a sub 4:20. And if I beat my last marathon time, I will be satisfied, if not excited.

Other than that, it's been a good week. The Phillies won the World Series!!! I was going to go to the parade, but 2 million people decided to take the train into Center City the same time we did, so we decided to go buy winter coats instead. I know that's totally lame, but we REALLY needed coats. It's cold here. Even Zero thinks so.



I also got a great 5.5 miler in after work on Thursday - OUTSIDE! It was dark at the end, but I ran a new route that kept me close to humanity so I would not be too scared. It felt great and I think 9mm is my new favorite pace for shorter runs. I just felt happy the whole time. Love those runs!

Also, watched the NYC Marathon this morning. How awesome is Paula Radcliffe?

Monday, 10/27 - off
Tuesday, 10/28 - 5.2 miles/dreadmill
Wednesday, 10/29 - off
Thursday, 10/30 - 5.5 miles/ 50:20 - 9:04 pace
Friday, 10/31 - off
Saturday, 11/01 - 19.82/3:12:30 - 9:42 pace.
Sunday, 11/02 - off

Total Weekly Mileage: 30.52 (RUN)
Total Weekly Mileage: 0 (BIKE)