Three Weeks, Time to Taper!

I haven't written much about the running I've been doing all summer, but today I hit an important milestone and I felt it was worthy of a blog post. Today I ran TWENTY MILES.

Let's back it up a minute. In June, I began plugging away at an 18 week marathon training plan. The plan involves 4 days of running and one day of cross training each week, with 2 rest days. The runs each week include 3 shorter runs (usually 3, 4, and 6 miles) and one longer run (progressing from 8 up to 20 miles, with one shorter one every few weeks to give me a break).

Of course, I was training over the summer, and it was HOT. My solution was to get up early and get the runs done before the weather became unbearable. But let's face it, the humidity is still there even before the sun comes up. Some of those runs were quite uncomfortable.

So on many, many days this summer, my alarm went off at 5:00. I got up, ate breakfast (a waffle or banana with peanut butter), got dressed, and headed out the door while it was still dark. Although I felt like it many times, I never ignored the alarm and went back to sleep. With the exception of sickness and family issues, I got out there and stuck to the plan as close as possible.

Today I accomplished the biggest goal of the 18 weeks (other than the marathon itself). I ran 20 miles. It took me almost 4 hours. I ran at a slow, steady pace, stopped to refill my water a few times (it took me 60 ounces of liquids to get through it) and took a couple of shorter walk breaks when I needed to. I was dreading this run, was nervous about it, and now I'm DONE. It's interesting that you only have to run 20 miles in training in order to complete a 26.2 mile race. I'm sure I can do it, but right now I can't imagine it. The 20 was hard enough -- adding another 6.2 is a little daunting.

I have to stop and give credit to the one person that has made all of this possible for me: my wonderful husband. There have been many, many days when he has had to get up and take care of the kids all morning when I was running -- and often he keeps them out of the house longer than necessary so that I can stretch and relax when I get home. A few times I have headed out the door during dinner time, or just as he has gotten home from a long day at work, and he is always so sweet about it and never complains. Without his support, I could never accomplish this goal!

I am heading into the final 3 weeks of the plan, what is known as the "taper". This means that I now ease up on the schedule and allow my body to rest and recover, so I will be strong on race day. The longest run I will have to do between now and the big day is 10 miles. I am so ready to taper, because I am tired and need the break!

3 weeks. Three weeks from today I will be a marathoner.

That's what's happening on Boomerang Drive!

-- Holly