So. Last week I had planned to do a long run, but was unable to complete it due to knee pain. However, with a bit of a change to my run-walk intervals I *was* able to run 7 miles two days later. And that’s where this week’s recap begins. Since the 7 miles went so well, I ran a solid 90 minutes on Monday, for a total distance of 6.85 miles. I wore my knee strap and had no trouble at all with the knee. I had a fun discussion with my husband about all this running and he started to suggest that I might need to drop down to the half marathon, but then quickly pivoted because I must have flashed him a dirty look. Because I’m not out of this race yet. Sure, I’ve had some major setbacks, but each one has showed me where I needed to improve and make changes, and I do feel I’m going to be ready on race day.

This was a busy week with meetings and get togethers so I did not have a chance to get to the gym to work on my legs, but I did do a lot of lifting and vacuuming, both at my house and a friend’s, so I think that counts. Work is work, right?

Now. The big hairy deal on my mind was how I was going to make up the prior week’s long run. I had decided I would try for 20 miles instead of 22, and then start my taper. When training for long distance races, you gradually build up your mileage, but then shortly before the race you stop building and drastically lower the mileage so that on race day you are running on fresh, fully recovered legs. Normally a taper for a marathon starts 2-3 weeks before the race. My revised plan would put me at a 4 week taper, but I think that’s better than trying to push myself too hard, too close to the race. (It’s fine, everything’s fine.) I had plans to go away for the weekend with friends, so I needed to get my long run in during the week. Thursday was the only day available, and the weather looked beautiful, so I was really excited to go.

As you can see from the photos above, I was excited to be outside, running with the sunrise, and especially stoked that the bridge under the highway was clear so that I could access ALL the trails. I ran all the way to the county park and then ran back home. Injury free and feeling incredible. I finished in just under 5 hours, which means it’s well within the realm of possibility that I could run this marathon in 6.5 hours, if all goes well. I would be thrilled to do that, but I’m going to try really hard to keep my expectations low on race day. Because my biggest mistake for even the shorter races is getting too excited and starting too fast. When you do that, you spend all your energy too early and have no gas in the tank to finish strong. I want to go slow, an easy and comfortable pace, and enjoy the scenery. Because I’m probably not going to be doing another one of these for a very long time. The training is just too demanding and I’m mentally and physically ready to be done with it.

So this week I *only* had 2 runs, but for a total of 26.85 miles. That brings my marathon specific training total to 267.14, and when added to my half marathon training of 193, we have a grand total of 460.14 miles. These are just digits, folks. I can’t even really comprehend that they are miles I’ve actually spent on my feet. Praise the Lord, thank you Jesus. And in 26 more days I’ll be running 26.2 miles, how about that? Let the taper begin…