The Last Workout

It's been a week.

The events at the Boston Marathon and in Boston were horrific and hit so close to home on so many levels. I had many friends running in the event and wasn't sure if families were also in the area. Everyone was safe but the unknown was really scary and i was really feeling the after effects of that. I've heard from a lot of running and triathlete friends that this event has only strengthened their resolve to continue to do what they love and that includes the support and friendship of the entire community. 

I'm looking forward to joining the running community this weekend for the Eugene Marathon. K is running the half and various other friends are running too. 

The blog always tapers off as I'm tapering. Like usual, i have a lot of doubts going into this race. I get a lot of people telling me that it'll be great, just focus on everything going well etc etc. I'm generally one of the more optimistic people I know but it just doesn't seem to work with racing a marathon. And I think that is the problem, i have a lot of doubts because i haven't really raced a marathon yet and don't have a good feel of how this is going to go. 

I've set some PRs in shorter distances lately and based on training, previous races and how i was feeling, I KNEW that i'd PR if i ran smartly and stayed focus.

I'm feeling great! The weather looks good. Timing seems to be good for me for the month. I'd had the usual blah runs a couple weeks ago and bailed on a planned long run.  This wasn't a problem. Instead of a three week taper, i adjusted my run schedule and bumped the long run to the next weekend. I ran 18 on tired legs and did manage to get do surges of marathon pace every mile for a couple minutes and the last mile at marathon pace. that was a nice confidence boost because i hadn't really felt all that great on the run in general but could still speed up.

I recovered well and started ticking off those last workouts. And finally last week, i had the last workout of the cycle.  and it was done without much trouble. Taper on and enjoy the recovery. it's been nice to sleep in and do a bit of gardening. Not too much because it has been too wet and the back doesn't always agree with gardening. 

The resolve is there. The training is there. The key workouts and health is there.  let's race!  I feel thankful that i can.