AND SO THE TAPER BEGINS...

Everybody wearing the "color of the day" at PMC. I am in the shade, second from left.

On Wednesday I did a marathon pace run and, as I suspected, once I got going my legs loosened up it wasn't as daunting as I thought. It was actually pretty encouraging how that pace didn't feel TOO fast. I hit 7:51/mile for seven miles and all the miles were within a few seconds of that. Now, that pace doesn't feel easy, but it's not a sprint. It's somewhere in between, which is probably the right speed to get your best time for a marathon.

Thursday I was feeling lazy even though my legs felt better than on Wednesday. My brain was trying to talk myself out of skipping the run, but I knew that wasn't an option, so instead I headed out for an "easy" run. I already did the pace run, so I felt like I was good for the week. Well, once I got out there I was feeling pretty good and the first mile was 8:30 or so. Then I got to thinking about trying to get a sub 3:30 marathon and how being lazy wasn't going to help me achieve that goal. So I turned that first mile into a "warm up" and then proceeded to do a tempo run.

A tour of my old stomping grounds.

The tempo run portion probably ended up at 7:45/mile or so, which isn't very much faster than the marathon pace run. The difference? The course. The seven mile pace run was mostly flat. I have to remember to temper my expectations when running my home loop. It is decently hilly and I can't forget to take that into consideration. I am not going to run 7:20s up a 200 foot hill. So honestly that 7:45 on a hilly course is probably more like 7:25 on a flat course. It was a good workout and nice to get more speedwork in.

Had the day off on Friday and then a sixteen miler Saturday morning with the Portland Marathon Clinic. We are now officially tapering. Sixteen miles this weekend, eight next weekend, and then the race the following weekend. Yikes! It is getting way too close. I feel so unprepared and like I am going to blow up during the race. I don't think I've ever felt super prepared though. Thinking back to last summer, I am definitely in better marathon shape, so that should give me confidence. I can do it again, a marathon is just a daunting thing to undertake!

The long run went well. It was in Tualatin, where I grew up as a kid, so I knew the streets pretty well and enjoyed running by my old elementary school, high school, the hospital where I got my stitches, etc. I really had to poop around mile eleven and thankfully we were in Ibach Park (where I played soccer as a young buck) and I was able to use the facilities there. Not the greatest fun to announce to the group, "I really have to poop" and then have them all wait for you, but it was better than the second option... shitting my pants.