Staying Busy

Along Bus Trail - Lake Tradition Plateau

WARNING: I'm going to whine.  Taper.  I hate it.  After all the hard training, the hardest part comes right before the goal event.  Taper refers to cutting training load so that your body has a chance to heal, recover and rest.  Tapering doesn't just work with running.  it applies to a lot of sports before a big event.

I'm finding tapering particularly challenging before a half marathon.  With marathon training, I am only too ready to take the 2-3 week break.  I'm tired mentally and physically and it's nice to have the couple weeks to attend to rest of my life.  Half marathon training isn't as demanding with no long runs.  The workouts can be challenging but I recover from them quicker.  So what d'ya mean I gotta cut back running?  I'm feeling so good!  Once I cut back running and take more rest days I just get stiff and sore.

The cure for whining is, of course, a nice and easy and short trail run out at Lake Tradition (see photo top).  I still found it challenging to slow down on some of the non-technical/non-hilly sections but just getting out to somewhere besides the normal running route is always good. 

K spent a couple days of his winter break replacing the lights in our kitchen.  They look great! The holes from the old fixtures needed to be patched and painted. It has been 12 years since we remodeled the kitchen from the studs out and I've wanted to repaint the walls and ceiling anyway.  All patching and painting is done!  It's like having a new kitchen as the new lights are so much better.  LED technology has certainly come far. 

Knitting is always a good thing.  I got to meet a new baby last week.  And that was the perfect excuse to knit baby leg warmers.  They are done and I will send them off tomorrow.  The only model I have is Keswick the Cat and these leg warmers are a little big for him but you get the idea.  Cuteness! 

We went off to the Seattle Asian Art Museum today for a small exhibit of "Painting Seattle: Tokita and Nomura" who were well known Japanese-American artists before World War II. It's a very small but a well done exhibit when ends mid-February.  See it if you can.

And driving out of volunteer park we came across the Conservatory.  How did I not know about this little gem in the middle of Seattle?  I had no idea that such a place existed and was quite delighted with the lovely room progression. On one of those freezing February days where you just cannot get warm, go here!

And to prove that taper only increases the thinking about running, as we were driving from Volunteer Park we saw a very nice little lookout park that would make a very nice running route addition with some serious hills. Gotta look at that map!