Marathon Training

Pre-Season: Collen had mentioned training for a marathon a couple of times, and I didn’t know how serious to take her offer. I knew she was probably serious about it, but the question remained: “How serious was I?” This was a hard question to answer, since I didn’t even know the first thing about running one and the last race I ran was in highschool. And at that it was all of 2 miles, not anything remotely close to that of a marathon which is 26.2 miles. In college, I was friends with a girl, her name was Lindsay, and she was training for a marathon. In my mind I could remember all the running she did to train for it, and how she kept talking about all this Power Goo that she had to eat while running to keep her energized. One night, I attempted running with her and I couldn’t even make it around campus halfway before my face resembled a mini-waterfall of sweat and had to walk it off. That night, as I went back to my apartment in Norman, Oklahoma, I swore off running ever again, claiming it was too much work. Lindsay went on to run her marathon, and she finished it! Congrats Lindsay! Then, in the midst of my thinking back to this moment stored in some obscure brain cell in my head, I remembered that I once made a tape for Lindsay and her run. I tried to find the tape, but couldn’t find it. It’s lost amongst all my moves. The stigma surrounding running a marathon is tremendous, and even though I never would have thought I would even consider running one, here I was with the offer in front of me. And before I knew it (or think rationally), I told Colleen, “Yes, I’ll do it. Let’s go.” Being a guy, and always in search of a new challenge, and never one to back down from one, it was time for me to raise the bar yet again. If I could run a marathon, I thought to myself, it would do wonders for my 14er climbs! So, the following day we went online, and found us a training schedule for newbies, and we were on an 18 week program to get us (well, at least me) from an out of shape, taco bell eating, remote control using, couch sitting potato, to a certified marathon athlete. Oh my…hold on to your computer chair! This is quite the adventure.

Week 18: Wow. From Day One, I was quickly humbled and put into my place, and any thoughts I had of completing the marathon were quickly put into the correct perspective. It was going to be hard work. I ran a couple of minutes before I told Colleen that I had to stop and walk. We had only been running 15 minutes. I was out of breath. We then walked the next 15 minutes before running again. Again, we ran around 15 minutes, then we walked some more, then we eventually ran home. Unbelievable. How was I ever going to run for over four hours continuously? The shoes I ran in that day were now destroyed. They self-imploded during the run. The next day, I donned another pair of shoes I had in 9th grade (over 7 years ago) that were also worn out, but I didn’t have any other alternatives. This time, I made it 25 minutes into our run before we walked. Well, before I needed to walk. Colleen seemed to be ready to run all the time. How come I was getting so tired? We walked six minutes, then ran up the hill to NCAR, then walked for another six, then ran all the way downhill back home. I needed to go buy new shoes. (To check out my different pairs of shoes, click here: My Shoes) Colleen and I went to Kohl’s and found some New Balance 470′s on sale for $39.95, and I picked them up. They made a huge difference. The next day out I finished all three miles without stopping. After we were done, Co took me to Subway, and I proceeded to eat 18 inches of Subway sandwiches. Yes, that’s right, a footlong and another six inch. I was craving carbs. I was getting better though and by the end of the week we did a run around the campus of Colorado University and even though I wanted to stop numerous times, Colleen rode me hard and didn’t let me walk. And I made it home in exhaustion having just run 50 minutes without stopping. I was incoherantly mumbling something during all my panting about how I was ready for my rest days.

Week 17: I was sore from the previous week of “training”. Cobes had to constantly remind me that we weren’t jogging, we were running. She may have been running but my dad had always referred to it as jogging. Ok, so we were runners now. This is the week that I discovered how blissful it is to stretch before AND after a run. My right ankle was hurting all week. We did some runs around Colleen’s house in Westminster. We were both running the entire distance now without walking, and I noticed that my body was slowly getting used to the idea of running. Granted, I had about two gears when running. Slow and Slower. But, as good ‘ol Hal suggested, “Just cover it”. So we covered the miles even in the snow. We even ran laps in the parking lot at Waterworld in drizzle one day because we couldn’t find anyplace better. The week culminated with the “long run” of seven miles. This was to be my litmus test. If I could do the seven miles, then I knew there might be hope for me to get through this. It was a bit chilly out, 20 degrees or so, and I was in shorts, and Co just thought I was insane and reminded me that I couldn’t complain if I got cold. Hey, I needed something to jump start me and to give me reason to keep running! We finished those seven miles in 1:14. So that translates to running 11 minute miles. Not too bad for the second week of training for us novices. And because we had finished the run, that night we both signed up for the marathon. We were now officially committed. “Steamboat Springs or Bust” And I was going to miss my Taco Bell.

Week 16: My roommate Heather has this trail guide book that we used to find a run around my house in south Boulder to link up a trail of 3 miles. We found one, and it’s called Skunk Creek. It metioned it being “Short, but strenuous. One hill.” Cobes and I decided to give it a go. I sure hope you don’t get disqualified in a race if you’re resorted to crawling up a hill. I literally felt like I needed to just lean a little bit more over and crawl on all fours up this hill. It was that steep. It’s now known as our “hill”. Granted, while NCAR may be longer, our hill was strenuous and steep. We made it through the day, and it took us 20 minutes to cover the first mile and half, but only 10 to cover the final 1.5 miles. Then, to change things up a bit, we decided to drive to Westminster’s City park and run laps around this “lake” they have there. I’d say it’s about 1.5 miles around it. However, we also included running up a giant set of stairs on each lap we made. I counted the stairs, there’s 99 of them. The goal is to try and do them as fast as you can. Did I mention how out of breath they make me? I am definitely sucking wind afterwards. However, the stairs are very beneficial for me, as it’s working my ankle in a way that makes it feel better. If there’s anything that is going to hurt during the marathon for me, I bet it will either be my right ankle, or my left hamstring. Anyhow, since the weekend “long run” was only going to be five miles, and I had plans to snowboard, I snowboarded for two days, and worked out at 24 hour fitness lifting weights instead of running the five miles. Colleen ran the five miles, however, by herself and a little too fast. She said she didn’t feel good afterwards. Don’t worry, next week we shall resume our runs with each other! Fifteen more weeks!

Week 15: If there is a week where I got tired of the whole running thing, this was the week. I think it’s natural to reach this point. The honeymoon is over, and the real training is beginning. The week started out well, but things quickly declined. On Tuesday, Cobes and I ran laps on our “hill” that is really steep and she did really well as she was sore from Sunday’s snowboarding experience. Because the marathon has lots of hills, being in Steamboat Springs, we decided to practice running them now, so our muscles will be used to it. Our hill workout was strenuous, however, we both felt really good for doing it when we were finished. On Wednesday, we were supposed to run four miles, however, my body wouldn’t move. We ran a new trail along South Boulder Creek, which was good for the knees as it was crushed gravel, but my head was out of the game. We ended up running only 3.2 miles. The following day, we vowed to make up that extra mile, and run four miles on a normal 3 mile day. However, after about 1 mile, it became apparent to me, that my knee wouldn’t allow me to go much further. I struggled through about 3 miles, then told Co that I had to call it a day. We agreed that running the nine miles on Saturday was more important than the one extra mile on Wednesday or Thursday, and hopefully the extra rest would help. Boy was I looking forward to Friday so all I had to do is sleep off all the pain. Saturday morning, I was sorta ready to run. It was kind of an adrenaline rush for me to see if I could run 9 miles without stopping. However, I couldn’t ignore the wear and tear I had on my body. However, as I was waiting on Colleen, I decided to start massaging my knee. I found a pressure point, kind of like you would if you were giving a back massage and found a knot in a persons back in my knee. I started to rub it, and work out the kink in my knee. My knee felt a lot better. Let’s do it. Cobes and I ran those 9 miles that Saturday, and even though we ran them slow, we finished. For me, the week started out in pain, continually got worse, but finishing the long run carried a little redemption with it. Nobody said it would be easy, and I don’t know where I got that idea in my mind, however, don’t let me confuse you…training for this marathon has been the most positive experience I have had in quite a long time. And you know what? I may be sore at the end of the day, and you will probably find me sitting in a hot tub trying to ease all the pain…but if there’s one thing I’m certain of, it’s that you’ll find me sitting there with a giant grin on my face, thinking about how much fun I’m having.

Week 14: This week was a good week. For the first time we would run over 20 miles in a week, by running 21 this week. Even though it snowed everyday this week, we still managed to run all of our miles. Tuesday was by far our best day we had ever run. It was only three miles, that consisted of laps around this “pond” behind Colleen’s house. Normally it takes about 12 minutes for us to run around it, and Co’s personal record was 0:10:30 on it. Well, on our third lap we decided to kick it up a notch, and see how fast we could run around it. We finished in an astounding 0:09:24. Two and a half minutes faster than we normally do, and one full minute faster than her PR. We then hoped it wouldn’t ruin the rest of the week because we ran so fast on Tuesday. Luckily it didn’t. Wednesday was five miles and it was cake. We ran around Boulder and just made up the route as we went. Who knows how far we went, but we just ran for an hour, and I’m sure we covered five miles. The next day we went back to Colleen’s hood, and ran 3 miles in a snowstorm that was so bad polar bears would be jealous! The snow was coming down so hard, that it would get in our eyes, and I couldn’t even SEE where we were running! Cobes goes, “You don’t have to see, just RUN!” *sigh* hehe. But we finished and I decided that we were officially nuts. I was soaked by the snow. Colleen pampered me though and gave my hands a hot wax treatment to warm me back up. I must admit, it did make me feel a lot better. *Smile* Well, the time had arrived, 10 miles. The enchanting land of Double digit running. We set out before any snow was falling, but by mile 4 it had started snowing pretty steadily. We were doing great, and ran our first two miles in 0:15:40 (sub 8-min miles!) and we did this because we were so cold, but it was obvious that we were going too fast as Co’s right calf started cramping and my legs were getting tight. Trudging on through the snow, we kept running although our pace getting slower and slower, and at 7 miles, after running up this huge hill, we came within half a mile of my house, and it would have been so easy for me to stop, but if I’m going to be successful at this marathon business, I have to keep training when everybody else gives up, because this doesn’t come easy for me…so we kept running. I will admit, I started to get a little annoyed with all the snow, as now it was hitting my face, and making the sweat come down into my eyes causing them to burn, and my legs were feeling the mileage. Nevertheless, we pushed through it, and made it up the “hill” and finished somewhat strong in a time of 1:44:17. That works out to 0:10:26 miles. Not so bad. Our goal in another 13 weeks is to get that down to 10 flat. I think we can do it!

Week 13: Step-back weeks always carry a nice ring to it. We decided to give NCAR another visit and marked out our miles and chugged up it (in the snow mind you). However, if you go back to Week 18, which is the last time we ran NCAR, you’ll notice that we (well, who am I kidding here…I) had to walk at the bottom of the hill, and once we got to the top, I had to walk some more. Our time to the top in Week 18, was 37 minutes. Co and I ran, in the blinding snow, up AND back down the hill in 35 minutes. My watch read 22 minutes at the top, which was 15 minutes faster than when we started running on Week 18! The semi-long run of the week, while only five miles was probably the most humorous run of our training so far…first of all, we decided to drive to East Boulder to run, and well, it was a good 20 minute drive from my house, and Colleen had no clue where I was going and thought I was lost. Well, we eventually got there, and started out, then I had to admit two things to myself. Number 1 is that if we continue running, I’m going to keep slowing down further and further until we start “running” at a glacial pace. This was due to Number 2, that I could no longer deny that my knee wasn’t an injury that spontaneously appeared randomly due to some “act of God” or something, but developed through our training. For the first time since Week 18, I had to tell Cobes that I had to walk. It was our first non-snowing day in a long time, and I figured the walking would do it good. I knew I could cover five miles, so why push it? The walking helped because my leg was warm from running. It doesn’t hurt as *much* as it did before we started, but I still know it needs to be tended to. Secondly, the trail consisted of us fighting for the path with cows, and dodging fresh cow patties. We both made it successfully through the distance without hitting a major landmine! Finally, I felt as though I should stop and see the view for once of where we were running. The sun was setting in the mountains, and it was pretty. Training shouldn’t get so serious that you can’t stop and smell the roses, so to speak. At least not in my book. On Thursday, we did our three laps around Kittner “Lake”. I think we came to the conclusion it’s around 1.1 miles for each lap. Again, Cobes and I raced on the final lap and THIS time she smoked me. Well ok, this was actually the first time we split up, but I went out way too strong and had nothing left for the end. So let’s put our hands together and congratulate Co as she ran it in 0:08:24, a full minute FASTER than the previous fastest time! Meanwhile, I broke the record of 0:09:24 and finished in 9-flat, but it is nothing compared to the champion of the week’s time. I now call her 24. 0:08:24. Haha. I climbed Pikes Peak this weekend instead of running the seven miles. Colleen ran by herself and it was a bright and sunny day out! Score! I could barely walk from the sunburn and blistered I incurred on my 14 climb. Silly me…what was I thinking!? What would Hal say!?

Week 12: The week started slow because I was still sore from climbing Pikes Peak, but after the sorta-long run on Wednesday, I was feeling better. Cobes was debating on whether or not to buy her marathon shoes this week, but chose not to. The final run of the week, 12 miles, proved to be more than I could handle. This time, it wasn’t my knee or my ankle, but my achilles tendon on my left leg that hurt. We were running up a lot of hills and it just tightened up beyond imaginable comfort. I have respect for Colleen as she walked with me the final 2.5 miles back to the car as I could only make it about 9.5 before I had to call it. We iced my achilles tendon and then when it was numb, Co massaged it, and I must admit the next day I didn’t feel anything, as it felt great. I hope it holds up next weekend.

Week 11: Ok, so we had a “down” week last week, hopefully we can have a better one this go. Well, ok, then came Mr. Blizzard 2003. It was the worst storm Denver has seen in the last century. Now, for those of you that can’t imagine how bad a storm has to be for it to be a storm of the century, let’s just say, places around Denver got 7 feet of snow. That’s right…FEET. Denver only got around 4 feet. This made running near impossible. We called off the first two days of running because well, we were stuck in our own homes, and the entire city was shutdown. By Friday we could run our 3 miles, only encountering some leftover snow. Saturday, we went for a walk to break in Colleen’s new hiking boots, and then on Sunday, we attempted the big 13 miles. We decided to do this run by Co-Co’s house, and it worked out good. There were places where we had to hurdle snow drifts upwards of 4 feet and fallen tree branches, but you know what? Not only did we finish; we finished sprinting the final half mile! We still had some mojo left! That made the whole run worth it. Our time was 2:35:56, but that didn’t matter, we had to run in so much snow and we finished! Cobes said she could have run the marathon yesterday, but unfortunately I think I need more training before I think of doing what we did yesterday twice. She also tested out how to carry water when we ran…it worked good, but we definitely needed more of it…but that’s why we have 10 more weeks to figure this sort of stuff out!

Week 10: Another week of about the same stuff. Training is loosing it’s flavor. The honeymoon is definitely over and we are both ready for the bigger mileage weeks and ultimately the marathon. We ran a fast 7 miles in Boulder. 1:06:02 *Clap Clap*. For the weekend run, we decided to go try and climb Mt. Princeton instead. Should be a good workout with all the snow they have received.

Week 9: Well, the mileage is getting up there. 15 miles! Purposefully, we ran the first half of the 15 miles slow to set us up for the best chance of finishing the long distance. We ended up running about 14.4, and right as we finished in came rain/snow mix! Yikes! However, during our “15 mile” run, we did many firsts. This included: Using a port-a-potty while running. Changing clothes and shoes at my house after 7 miles. Eating food while running. Setting water outside for us to grab as we ran by. And running 15 miles! Hehe. It went ok, but it could have gone better, as we did it really slow, hopefully next week we will do the 16 miles faster!

Week 8: Me and my knee! If only I could keep that thing from hurting, I could make all the runs no problem. Since my knee was hurting, we walked the 3 miles on Tuesday, then, instead of running the 8 miles on Wednesday, Colleen went swimming with her college swim buddy, Amy. Thursday, well, neither of us could get motivated for the 8 miles, so we kind of walked a couple. Then, we totally blew off the 4 mile run we were supposed to do. So when the 16 mile came on the weekend, boy was it a shock! We ran the East Boulder course which has mega amounts of hills, and oh my, it was hot out for a change. We carried water with us, and we even ate all these power gels before we started. However, at about 11 miles, I ran out of energy. I needed more fuel. We had no food! I must add that to my list of things to do before a long run….EAT! Oh yeah, Colleen got some new running shoes, and I’m extremely jealous! (She got: Saucony’s Grid Omni 3 Moderate)

Week 7: Wow. For the first week of recent memory, I’m actually impressed with how we did. What a difference eating before you run makes! Let me give you a before and after picture. Imagine, waking up and running a good distance (greater than 12 miles), without eating anything, or drinking anything, since you ate dinner the previous night. Ok, that’s the before scenario. Now, imagine waking up to a good breakfast, full of carbs, water, energy gels, and letting it settle for an hour or two, and stretching, and *then* going running. Well, that’s what I did this weekend before our 12 mile run. And it made a huge difference. Forget the fact that on Tuesday it rained and we didn’t feel motivated to do anything. Wednesday we did the 8 miles at a decent pace. Thursday, my knee was hurting again, so we walked most of the five miles. But then. Oh, yes, THEN, we drew upon last weeks experience and decided to try and feed me food before I ran. This is the first time I ever felt like Colleen’s pace was holding me back. I ran the first seven miles of the 12 mile run in 0:59:47. That translates to (are you ready for this): 0:08:32 minute miles!! Colleen and I finished the run in 1:56:37. That translates to 0:09:43 minute miles! In other words, I finally did 7 miles in under an hour, and 12 miles in under two hours! Now, the only thing is…how am I going to keep this up for the big 18 miles I have to do next week?

Week 6: The training intensity is building up, and the light at the end of the metaphorical tunnel is brightening. It was hard to get motivated to run on Tuesday. Softball practice was called off because of the rain. However, we still went out and ran a couple. Wedensday was redemption, as we ran fast, and I upped my PR on 7 miles with 0:58:17, a minute and a half faster than last week. And I know I can go faster. The trick is me figuring out when to run fast and when to hold back. The course we run for 7 miles or distances close to it, (in this case, we ran 9 miles total this day) is by no means flat. At mile 6 is what locals call “the Hill”. Yes, when you live in a running community and it’s given a name and simply referred to as “the Hill” (with a capitol H mind you), you know it’s challenging. It’s right by campus and it’s where all the riots are when you read about students burning couches in protest. So, it’s just a matter of me managing the hill. Last time, I had too much gas left at the end, and this time, I went out too quick and didn’t have enough at the end. On Thursday, we ran a couple miles before I bonked. The bottom line is this: If I don’t eat before I run, I can’t run. Period. My body needs fuel. So, you can imagine what I was thinking when I was staring at the weekend 18-miler. It’s time to go grocery shopping. Ok, you know all those articles about not eating unknown food before a big run? Well, this was the case for me. I drank a lot of milk instead of coke the night before and the next morning when I woke up, I thought I was going to hurl. I think my stomach was so trained on Taco Bell and coke that when I gave it real food it wanted to reject it. Regardless, I managed to get a few Cliff Bars and packed up my Power Gu and headed out to Boulder Creek Path. Boulder Creek Path is 7.5 miles one way. So we would have to run out and back, and then add 3 miles. Not a problem…well, except for the map we were using. Due to navigation errors, we got to the “end” in a little over an hour (1:02:20), and we turned around and started heading back. We wanted to run negative splits, so we got back to where we started in under an hour (0:56:45). All is good, so we ran the extra 1.5 miles out and back, and finished in a little over 2.5 hours….good right? Well, except that when we looked at a map, we somehow didn’t finish it all the way, and so therefore, we ended up running 15 miles, instead of 18. *sigh* I guess that’s what we get for running a new path on a long run. However, the good news is that my mom bought me running shoes this week, so I got to go to the world-class Boulder Running Company, where they use a camcorder and do video analysis of your stride and pick out the perfect shoe for you. This may be completely against the normal idea of going to a store and looking at the shoes and trying to find an attractive looking shoe. I didn’t do anything, other than tell the guy (who can run a sub 4-min mile and also complete a marathon in under 2:20) how the shoe fit and felt. With every shoe we tried, we got closer to what worked and looked best mechanically on video. Another thing I like about Boulder Running Company is that they let me just jog out the front door with the shoes on, and run around town to test them out! Haha, when I would come back, I’d have a good idea of how they would really feel. I ended up getting Saucony’s Grid Omni 3 Ultimate. Yeah, it’s a mouthful. It turns out, that it’s only slightly different from Colleen’s perfect shoe: Saucony’s Grid Omni 3 Moderate.

Week 5: Another good week. In fact, very good. Tuesday’s run went well, as we completed the five miles up NCAR in under an hour. We made it up NCAR in 20 minutes, and back down in 9. Our time to the top in Week 18 was 37 minutes, and in Week 13, it was 22. Also in Week 13, it took us 13 minutes to get down, so we did it four minutes faster this time. We’re improving. Wednesday was a 9 mile run, so we went back to Boulder Creek path and decided to give it a go again. We did the first half in 0:50:39, and negative split the second half in 0:42:53, total time of: 1:33:32. Not very fast, but it doesn’t matter, we are in the middle of a long week. And besides, we weren’t trying to run it fast. Thursday was just blah for me. I woke up late, and had softball practice and then it was getting dark, and there were mosquitos and I am the man of a million excuses (especially when it comes to running), and so Colleen and I walked instead of ran. For the weekend 14-miler, we went really slow, but finished it. Here’s the thing though, I’m happier about this 14 miles than I was about the 18 miles the week before. Why? Because I know we ran all 14 miles of it. Next week for the 20, we now know exactly where the mile markers are, and so we will be able to judge our time and distance correctly. One more hard week to go. I’m excited.

Week 4: The Big Twenty. We are no longer merely in double-digit figures, as we passed that mile-marker long ago. We are in long distance figures now. The longest I have ever hiked in one day was my 15.6 miles up Longs Peak. Granted those 15.6 miles were at a lot higher elevation, but they still took me about 12 hours to cover. 12 hours of hiking. With a pack on, in boots. It took a lot out of me to continuously hike for 12 hours, but I made it, and in one piece. This weekend we had a goal. On the slate was 20 miles with the mission to do it in under 4 hours. The place we chose to run was none other than Boulder Creek Path. It has mile-markers on it, so we would know how far we had to go, even when our minds were numb from the running. The fact that it snowed 8 inches in Boulder yesterday morning has nothing to do with the fact that we WERE going to run 20 miles today. Our plan was to run this four mile stretch of Boulder Creek Path a five times. So, we started out at a 0:10:30 pace and cruised to a 0:43:49 time. Things were good, I had to pee because I drank 100oz of liquid before we started running (a new pre-run PR). Then we were off. The second four miles coming back to where we started, Colleen and I registered a 0:44:57. Not bad, maintaining pace was the name of the game. Neither of us knew exactly how we would feel at 20 miles, so we tried to stay on pace. However, as everybody knows, as you run for a while, what *seems* like the same speed is actually slower, and on our third set of four miles we gutted it out for a 0:46:16. After 12 miles, I had to stretch for a little while, but then I felt like a champ after I guzzed some Gatorade and a Power-Gel, and amazingly we kicked out a fourth set in 0:42:42, our fasted lap yet. Sixteen miles down, four to go. Well, then I said “Hi” to Mr. Wall. He greeted me right around mile 18. I felt paralyzed as my legs didn’t want to move, and I was resorting to a shuffle for a good mile, and we clawed out a tough 0:55:48 last four miles. Total time: 3:53:33. We did it. Under our target time of four hours. We successfully paced ourselves to set us up for plenty of time to finish the last set of four miles in order to accomplish our goal. Not only that, but we have to sit back and look at how far we’ve come. I couldn’t run 3 miles when I started. Now I did 20. I couldn’t run more than 15 minutes continuously. Well, I just ran over 15 times that long. That’s a 1,500% increase in endurance! Colleen is great because she puts up with me and my whining. Today after I hit the wall, I was wimpering at every little minor uphill we had to go up. It’s all downhill from here as we get to start our taper now. Score. I guess now I know the marathon is not a matter of if I can do it…it’s simply a matter of me getting out there to prove it.

Week 3: My attention span for this marathon has been pushed to the limit. I’m so tired of training. In fact, Colleen and I have grown so tired from these 18 weeks that we aren’t even running anymore! On Tuesday we walked our distance, on Wednesday and Thursday we didn’t even do it, then on Saturday, we tried to run 12 miles but found ourselves so out of shape that I got a calf strain after running only four pathetic miles and had to throw in the towel and walk four miles back to my car! Ack, I think we peaked the wrong week! If the marathon were the day of the 20 miler, I could have done it, but now I can’t do it! I have like 12 days to get my running form back. And right now all my calf wants to do is twitch and ball up. To make up for this, Co and I are running a couple extra days this next week in an attempt to refocus our training for the final days. Stay tuned.

Week 2: Well, when you’re in a taper, it’s kind of hard to either do nothing, or go all out. So we had an ok week. Didn’t work too hard, and slacked off excessively. We have that part down. Colleen and I ran Tuesday’s workout on Monday since I play softball games on Tuesday nights. We ran sorta fast as we ran a couple sub 9-min miles. Took us 0:37:21 to finish the four miles. Then, the rest of the week we kind of walked, and then for the long run, we ran the Bolder Boulder. Finished the 10k in less than an hour, so we are happy, and looking forward to the marathon. Everything revolves around the marathon.

Week 1: The final week. It’s been a long 18-week training regimen and we didn’t follow it to the T, but that doesn’t matter, because we felt prepared. We gently ran a couple times this week, and then relaxed and began carbo loading for our marathon. Ahhh, I didn’t need to be told twice to take a second helping of pasta! Mmmm. Our training, is now complete.