Taper time
Just for the record, I did 12 miles on Saturday. My knee was fine thankfully but I did struggle a bit with energy and enthusiasm. I started up the canal in blazing autumn sunshine, and with no shade I was drained fairly quickly. I forgot how much direct sun wears me out. I eventually got into the shade of the Phoenix Park wall and I felt a bit better. Anyway I did it, which is the main thing. A few short runs this week will keep me ticking over during the taper.
And who doesn’t love an oul’ taper! Best of luck out there. Hope it all goes well.
Thanks Declan, likewise!
Very best of luck for Sunday. Get round safely and enjoy it!
Thanks very much! Will do my best.
Hey, you’re almost done! I sympathize: I hit that point early on, and it’s a bit demoralizing mentally. I wasn’t prepared for how much that affected me… But if you’re at the taper point, you’re almost there. When is the marathon? Will it be in a lot of direct sunlight? I hope not! 🙂
Marathon is Sunday week! God knows what the weather will be like, but I think marathon day I will cope. I’m excited for it and nervous at the same time.
I felt the same way with mine — my strategy, if you want to call it that, was just keep putting one foot in front of the other. You’ve at least trained for yours! You’re going to nail it!
Putting one foot in front of the other is exactly my strategy too! I’m not giving up now, even if I have to walk the whole thing!! I’m getting that medal.
HAHAHA! That sounds like an echo… I knew if I bailed on it, I’d always say “I should do a half” so I told myself “you’re going to do this, you’re going to finish this”. And while I personally view the finisher medals as sort of “everyone gets a trophy” kinds of things, I am glad I have my half finisher medal.
On the day I was running a half, one of my coworkers was running a 50-miler. So I had some perspective too — and someone else to mentally cheer on to help distract me from my own challenge.
Oh yes, I would be very disappointed in myself if I bailed. I don’t care about medals per se too, but it will mean I have done it. My coach always tells us to run for all the people who would love to be able to run but can’t, so that’s a good perspective. It’s only running at the end of the day but it’s important to us so may as well see it through.
Your coach has a good perspective to incorporate, I agree. The medals are nice, but I see a bunch of runners that run “for” them; I found that weird.
This isn’t your first marathon?
No I did the same one last year. Wanted to do it quicker this year but that might not happen! Don’t care though. My top objective was not to put on weight this year and I achieved that goal so I’m winning!
Definitely winning.. I think I only managed to lose about 5 or so pounds of the ~50 I was shooting for before mine. Definitely ahead of me there. 😀
Weight loss a whole different challenge- harder than running a marathon to be sure!!
Hope the taper has gone well – and very best wishes for a safe and successful run on Sunday. Remember to enjoy it!