Taper Time

The Boston Marathon is now only 10 days away. For the last week and a half, my running mileage has been intentionally dwindling. According to Hal Higdon and many other running experts, this is all part of the training program. You pump up your mileage gradually and do several long runs, then about 3 weeks before the race, you slowly start running less and less.

For someone like me, this is difficult to do. I know you're thinking, "What??!? You get to do LESS mileage and you have a problem with it??" But, yes! I have gotten used to spending a good portion of my time out there pounding the pavement (or treadmill, as the case may be). For months, I've just set aside every Saturday morning for a nice, long, relaxing run. On the schedule for tomorrow is just a short, sweet 8 miles. It's going to be weird to be back home on a Saturday morning so early!

Like many of you, I'm enjoying the extra time the lack of running has put back into my schedule. I'm getting some things done now that have been pushed to the back burner for the past few months. I can deal with the extra time the taper gives me. What bothers me most about the taper is the feeling that I'm "doing nothing." The running becomes such a habit that you get used to coming home exhausted and really feeling like you've worked hard. So here I am just about half way into the taper and I'm already feeling like a slug. So the next 10 days, that feeling will only become worse. And all the experts will tell you, do not add more miles or push yourself in these upcoming days (though that would make my feeling of sluggishness go away). I've done enough marathons that I knew this was how I'd feel and that I'm supposed to just "enjoy" these weeks. But every time, I struggle with the feeling that I'm not doing enough. It's like a guilty feeling. I watch the occassional runner pass by my front window and I want to go throw on my shoes and join them for a few miles!

Sure, I know, it's only 10 more days. But that can feel like so long. I attended this really cool seminar The Road To Boston by Mark Buciak. Mark has completed the Boston Marathon the last 27 consecutive years and gave us lots of tips, tricks and great stories about his Boston experiences. True, not much more I could do to prepare now, but the seminar was filled with a lot of info on the course and the Boston area. What I found to be completely awesome was that the room was filled with first-time Boston Qualifiers and the energy in the room was contagious!

So I guess I'll keep working on my long list of things to do that do not include running. Maybe once I get back from Boston, the warm weather will have returned! One can only hope!!

On another note, this blog has had 1109 hits in just the one month. I'm both shocked and thrilled at the volume of hits. Thanks and keep reading!!