My past week...

Today marked the beginning of taper time after the Nike Ready Run 20-miler.  It was a tough run for me today because my body grew a tad accustomed to the longer stops that we made during our long training runs.  And, today, I forced myself to keep going as much as I could and did not stop my watch.  Overall, I did about a 9:38 pace.  Yes, my goal was 9:00's, BUT, I'm being VERY nice to myself because it was meant to be as close to mimicking the actual marathon without those long stops and I think I did a pretty damn good job, particularly in the heat.  KNOCK ON WOOD THAT IT WILL BE COOLER ON RACE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

My week leading up to this was a wonderful post-Hurricane Ike leftover puddle dodging 7 miler on Monday out of Fleet Feet.

 

Tuesday was a quick abs class followed by strengthening and then meeting with my awesome dietician friend from the Nike Northside/Southside challenge, Molly.  I got great info on how I'm missing my fruits, vegetables, protein, and dairy so I hope to continue on a healthier more balanced path!

 

Wednesday was supposed to be a 7.5 mile race pace run.  It was a cool night and my legs just took off.  I ended up doing the run at an average 8:20.  It probably was the BEST run I have EVER had.  I hope to have that feeling several more times to come!

 

Thursday through Saturday were nixe on the running ay, partly due to my out and back trip to Buffalo for work.

 

I couldn't be more excited to move on to taper mode.  I am one step closer to 2 AWESOME races, the Chicago and NYC marathons, on October 12 and November 2 respectively.  I hope at each of those I will not be in the "why do I do this mode?" and will be enjoying EVERY part of the experience.  In particular, I mention this because I felt that way today but had to remind myself that it was okay that I was feeling bad and I could make it and if I was feeling that bad, there were plenty of others in the same place. 

 

Here's to respecting the marathon--the beast that it is!!!!

--
Ken Chin
Ken@KenChinUSA.com
https://www.active.com/donate/run2008/KenChinUSA