Live, Run, Grow

So since I haven’t been blogging much, I’ve pretty much gone through all of my marathon training without posting much more than my short weekly training updates!

So, how has this cycle of marathon training gone?

MEH.

Honestly, not great, but could have been worse.

Unfortunately I struggled with a few things this summer: humidity, my feet and motivation.

The humidity is not my friend and after having a panic attack after feeling like I couldn’t breathe at track club one night, I was hesitant to push myself to that point again and every time I felt myself start to breathe too hard I backed off.  The good news is struggling through those humid runs should mean running (and breathing!) will feel great when that fall weather really sets in!  (HOPEFULLY!)

You may remember me complaining about my feet in the past, but MAN have they been killing me on my long runs!  (See my Tips for Happy Feet post HERE!)

For awhile I thought it was because my shoes were wearing out, but I finally got new sneakers and no such luck, the pain is still there.  I’ve taped my feet the last two long runs and have been diligent about stretching my calves and rolling me feet, but by about 5 miles in I feel like my arches are about to tear in half!

Oh and the lack of motivation.

As I wrote about the other day I managed to put a lot on my plate this summer and when it came down to it, doing long runs in my little spare time was just about the last thing I wanted to do.

But, I got in just about the bare minimum to prepare for a marathon and here I am at taper time.

I did my 16, 18 and 20 milers three weekends in a row to give myself a comfortable 3 week taper before the Hartford Marathon, which I plan to run comfortably (no PR attempt) and then 2 weeks later I’ll head to DC for the Marine Corps Marathon (and then 2 weeks after that down to Disney for the Wine & Dine Half Marathon!).

The long runs went…well decently.

I walked a few more times than I would have liked and had to stop and stretch my knees and feet a few times, but I got them all done right around the pace I was looking for.

The 20 mile run was definitely motivated by the post-run chocolate peanut butter milkshake I promised myself!

(And yes, we planned our route to actually FINISH at the Friendly’s!)

It was great to have company for the runs too!

Pat came down for the 16 & 20 mile runs (to fulfill the Hartford-Disney Double contractual obligations!) and Jason was with me for the 16, 18 & 20 mile runs!

Yup, ALL OF THEM!

See, Jason decided to do 10 of the 16 miles with Pat and I a few weeks ago and when we got to 10 miles he decided to just do a couple more…

…well a couple turned into the whole 16!

And the next weekend he did the 18…

And at that point I told him it was crazy to be running these distances (and running them well!) and not training for a marathon! (I mean WHO DOES THAT?!?)

So, he registered to join Pat and I for the Hartford Marathon!

I am so excited to be running this race with Jason.  Hartford is basically his hometown, we both have family in the area and it’s where Jason and I worked for several years before moving to New York.

There’s a lot of history for us there, it just seems perfect that it worked out this way.

So, we’re in the taper zone and for the next few weeks I’ll be focusing on hydrating, stretching, rolling and trying to keep my body happy and ready for my busy stretch of fall races!

What are your best taper tips?
Have you run a hometown race with family spectators?

Will anyone be at Hartford, Marine Corps or Wine & Dine??