A Very Busy Weekend OR Being a Slave to Nature OR Let the Taper Begin!

There are some blog entries where I struggle to find an appropriate topic and/or headline. Then there are the entries where I have to cut parts out. This is one of those weeks.

I knew, going into our weekend, everything was scheduled to the minute. There was no room for flexibility or last-minute mind changes. Friday night was supposed to be nice, quiet, early-finish kind of evening with Jack and Robin--the newly-weds who are now three months pregnant. Saturday morning I would get up early, do my 20-miles, and at 1:00 be at the church for set-up for our youth group's Halloween party. Saturday night was the youth group's "Sleep Out So Other's Can Sleep In", where we would all crowd around a fire in the church's parking lot and sleep outside, raising money for the homeless. Sunday is a town breakfast, a fund raiser for the volunteer fire department. It is, essentially, $7 for all-you-can-eat grease and fat--delicious grease and fat. Any run after that breakfast would be border-line masochism.

The first problem with my finely-tuned plan was that a newly-wedded, pregnant couple, Jack and Robin still know how to have fun. 12:30 saw Ted and I waving good-bye to them, and 10:00 the next morning saw Ted waking me up. "It's only raining lightly now if you wanted to run."

The 20-mile run for the day was out--so I opted to reschedule my training plan to run 12 this weekend and next weekend do the 20. I changed and began to prepare my water belt--when Ted and Dave informed me I was not running anymore. It was pouring--Pouring!--with rivers running down our side street. But I was dressed and determined--although not enough to beat out Ted and Dave. So after some discussion, they talked me into running Sunday. And I decided if I were to run Sunday, I may as well do my 20-miles then. So I took myself upstairs and washed my pre-run lubricated body.

The rest of Saturday was busy, but unnecessary to report on. To give you a clue, it consisted of 2 hours of pre-schoolers and Halloween costumes, then a midnight bedtime in a tent on a church parking lot for a 7-hour night of sleep, with the 5:00 AM run being out of the question.
So Plan D it was--a run beginning no later than 2:00. Following the borough breakfast (does that make me a masochist? I think it might).

20 miles.

And I did it.

It was painful--I went through a series of aches and pains throughout the entire run, which, while it took me under 4 hours to complete, I was gone for four and a half. I left the house with a Cliff bar, two gel packs, and a baked potato. I lost a gel pack somewhere along the way, and never got to my Cliff bar. The last three miles consisted of stretching every 5 minutes, and learning the true definition of "So Close, Yet So Far Away."

I am still asking myself the same question I have been for the past five months. Can I do the marathon? I think so. I did 21 miles (which was the true distance of yesterday's run). Could I have done another 5? Yeah, I think so...would I have if it had been the actual marathon? You betcha. Would I have been in more pain than I ever realized possible for a run? Oh yeah.
But, I did it, and the taper has now begun. I'm still nervous about the marathon--everyone is convincing me I'm ready. I hope they're right.

But let the taper begin...