My last 20 miler is finished.....

Well, yesterday was my last 20 miler and it couldn't come soon enough for me. I'm kinda going through that over training stage right now. You know the one where you say I feel like I need to take a break from running for while? Well, this is just not the time for that. My taper couldn't start at a better time. I will do a 16 on Thursday morning and head into work a little later than usual. I'll be heading out of town for business which is the reason I want to do my last long run while I'm home. That takes all the guess work out of it. Where to run, how to get the time to run and having the energy after a hard day of work.
I'm down to 19 days and a wakeup. The battle for me now is to control my eating so I don't gain any weight before my race. Actually I'd like to lose a few pounds before I race. According to RW writer Amby Burfoot, you trim 2 seconds per mile off your time for every pound you lose. Now that may not seem like much but over 26.2 miles it adds up to almost one minute. I know, I know, you are saying "Deck, that isn't that much either" but for me that 1 minute may very well be the difference of me making Boston or not. Right now I think I'm very close to being ready. I will be running at just under 8 minute miles to qualify. I need 3:30:59 or less. Many of my races this year have been well under that but none of them have been for 26.2 miles. My legs are pretty strong right now but they definitely need the taper.

Great Morning run..

I had a very nice run this morning. No stiffness from Sunday's 20 and the temp was cool but not cold. Perfect... My schedule calls for this to be a pretty high mileage week. I did 12 this morning which is my longest mid week run. I hope my body keeps holding up... 25 days and a wakeup....

Long Run Sunday...

Well I put in my long run this morning. It started out nice and cool but by the end of the run it was very warm. My splits are not that great. I hope that my plan during the race works out better than my training runs.

Mile #1 8:17
Mile #2 8:45
Mile #3 8:36
Mile #4 8:36
Mile #5 8:39
Mile #6 8:39
Mile #7 8:29
Mile #8 8:30
Mile #9 8:17
Mile #10 8:22
Mile #11 8:27
Mile #12 8:48
Mile #13 8:46
Mile #14 8:44
Mile #15 8:51
Mile #16 8:50
Mile #17 8:51
Mile #18 8:45
Mile #19 8:51
Mile #20 8:49

Total.. 2:53:05

What a difference a day makes....

Man, yesterday morning's run was cool and crisp. My legs felt great. This morning, a totally different story! I stepped outside and it felt warm. I could smell rain in the air. We are suppose to get some much needed rain today and tonight. It only took a 1/2 mile before I realized the humidity was very high. My breathing was labored and legs just didn't seem to have the energy they had yesterday. Into mile 3 and I was fighting the urge to head back to the house. But at this point in my training I must stay focused on my goal. I toughed it out and finished my 10. It felt like I had just done 20. You know, it's funny how your mind seems to adapt to the distance you run. If you are running 5, it seems like that is all you can force yourself to do. If you are doing 10 it seems like you can't take another step. If you are doing 20,,,, well, that never seems all that easy to me. :D It is all in your mind.

29 days and counting...

Hello there!!!!

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. Busy family and work life just doesn't leave much time to post. Right now I'm well into my first of 3 long mileage weeks before my taper. I did 10 this morning in 1:21:17 and it felt pretty good. My legs feel strong and rested with no aches or pains at this point. "Knock on Wood!" I'll be running 10 tomorrow before my SRD on Saturday, then 20 on Sunday.

I found out part of my fall work schedule this week. I'll be heading to Kings Bay GA the first week of November. Then I'll be heading back out to Bremerton WA at the end of the month. This all is neatly wrapped around a very big event for me. I'm exactly 1 month away from Philly as you can see by the ticker. I haven't even started my taper and I'm already second guessing myself. Fortunately I've been through this before. You never feel like your ready I guess.

I'll try to post more pictures of the kids sometime soon. They are getting so big. Cody had his scans this week to look at his back. He has what appears to be a muscle that is larger on one side of his back. You only see it when he has his shirt off and moves a certain way. The doctor says that he has a slight curvature of the spine. They believe that it may have been caused by the radiation treatment he had. They also think that the muscle issue may have been caused by the spine. It's believed that the muscle is over compensating for the curvature of the spine.

More later.... :D