I'm Tapering and I'm ABSOLUTELY FINE

Well, here we are. One week until the Chicago Marathon and one week into my taper. This is my A race only race this year, To be honest, I think I'm doing a pretty good job of keeping the taper madness at bay.

It might have to do with the fact that I already had my meltdown 6 weeks ago when my IT band derailed me for awhile. I was pretty positive I would have to walk the whole marathon.

What's that you say? I could have considered not doing the race or deferring to next year?

I was already in too deep. 

Nevertheless, it did force a few days off and a drastic decrease in mileage. I was TriGirl, Interrupted (minus the institutionalization, of course). But I've clawed eased my way back and despite only getting one of my three 16 milers in, I'm feeling pretty good.

Yeah, I'm good.

I just have to not think about how far 26.2 miles is. The trick is to break it up into manageable chunks.

Or:

Or:

Or:

Errr, perhaps the madness is creeping in just a bit.

I guess some things never change. 

See you on the flip side!

UPCOMING POST: WHAT'S NEXT?

Triathlon Taper Madness: it's just as fun as marathon taper madness!

In less than 48 hours I will be competing at Seafair in my first Olympic distance triathlon!

I honestly just want that finisher's medal.

It seems that work always becomes exceedingly stressful in the few weeks leading up to a big race day and this time around has been no different. I've spent the past seven days walking around like a zombie even though I'm in taper mode and exercising less.

During a pep talk with Erika tonight she walked me through all the little details, and asked if the race is wetsuit legal.

Not wearing a wetsuit is not an option.

My first and last race without a wetsuit got me a trip to the ER with hypothermia, which happened to be in the same lake as this race (and half the swim distance.)  Also, what if I get tired? The wetsuit lets me rest without the pesky risk of drowning.

Luckily I checked, and it looks like the lake will be cold enough to allow me to stuff myself into my wonderful neoprene sausage casing.

That isn't my only concern about the swim though. I have one little question about the course:

It looks like we have to cross THROUGH the line of swimmers twice! I really can't see how that will work out any other way than a flurry of arms and legs to my solar plexus, face parts and noggin.

Of course, that just might possibly mean I will be kicking and punching others as well.

Rules are rules. 

Or something.

Anyway, packet pickup is tomorrow and then my race starts at 6:57 a.m. on Sunday morning.

I just hope I don't lose my mind before then.

Tapering tends to do that to me.



UPCOMING POSTS: SWIM WORK, DIFFERENT TYPES OF RUNS

Getting to the 2014 Portland Marathon Starting Line, Taper Tantrums and All

Last year I ran the Portland Marathon for the first time.  It was a BIG DEAL, and both Erika and Ann Marie ran it with me.

It was a perfect first marathon.

This year, I decided to sign up again, to see if I could run the race on my own.  I do the majority of my training runs solo anyway, other than some long runs. This meant that I had to change my focus.

The question for last year's race was:

The question for this year's race was: 

Heavy stuff.

My training was far from perfect, but I managed to get in 60 out of 71 scheduled runs.  Last year I did 66 of them. My pace was up to 1 minute per mile slower than last year on about half the runs.

I would like to, but it's probably not the reason.

My longest training run this year was a 22 miler, which I did on my own, on the only day I forgot my earbuds.  After that run, I felt like I could likely handle the race...more or less...hopefully.

My taper was 2 weeks long this year, as opposed to 3 weeks last year, so my taper tantrums were limited to general agitation and one big freakout.

FREAKOUT REENACTMENT:

The week before the marathon Christy asked me what my bib number was.  When I looked it up I got a very disturbing message:

So I did what any sane person would do, and I tried again.  Over and over.

I decided to email the race coordinator to make sure that I was, indeed, registered.

 

That really was not comforting.

I posted my query to their facebook page and spent the next 4 hours compulsively searching the website again, and combing through my Active.com profile (since I registered through them).   Right as I was going to bed I got a message from their page letting me know that I had clicked a button that made me not searchable by name when I registered.

However, I was indeed registered.  I sent them a heartfelt thank you.

And scene.

Fast forward to race weekend, and TriGuy and I drove down to Portland.  Everything went pretty smoothly.  After an early dinner we went straight to bed.

Unfortunately, I kept dreaming that I couldn't get to the starting line on time.

I was very relieved to wake up.

I got up and started preparing my breakfast.  That was a breeze because after last year's panic over a lack of hot water,  TriGuy had bought me the perfect gift.

Guaranteed to make your race morning prep 80% less stressful!

As I was prepping, I was already getting texts from Christy and her friends that they were making their way to the start.

I grabbed TriGuy and hurried my way down to the street.  Luckily Christy and I were in the same corral and got to start together.  There were corrals A through H.  We were in G.

It's the little things.

Christy and I chatted with a couple of ladies right behind us.  One of them told us she kept toilet paper in her bra.  I suddenly realized that I had forgotten my emergency toilet paper that I always put in my shorts pocket.  The lady graciously offered to "spare a square" for Christy and I.

We graciously declined.

And then, a mere 16 minutes after the first corral started the race, we were off!

Stay tuned!! The rest of the race review is in the works!

UPCOMING POSTS: PORTLAND MARATHON PART 2, MARATHON AFTERMATH, VOLUNTEERING AT BEAT THE BLERCH, DEVICE REVIEW