Me and Julie!!!!

Before I jump ahead and recap the marathon itself I realized I had one more week of training left to tell. Sorry to keep you all waiting with anticipation, I know it’s all so exciting!

Week 15, my very last training week. Ever! I had exactly 7 days till race day. That is all! And oh goodness how much did I just want the whole thing to be over. So much so, that the emotions from week 14 were pretty much permanent at this point. I couldn’t think of anything else, really, other then the stupid race and what was going to happen to me once it was over. Would I actually survive to tell that tail? Would I die out on the course? Would Erin have to save me and drag me home? Or would it be amazing and I would run so fast?! My vote was on running super fast. That’s what I wanted to do after all.

It was then that a different mentality struck me. It was my last Thursday run with Julie and the Running Room where the shift happened. Clearly it wasn’t during the run or even during the pep talk beforehand – why someone was talking to us about goal setting and where our mental state and minds should be prior to race day was beyond me, it totally stressed me the hell out! I was not ready for this. And during the 8k run I left terrible. I was worrying and freaking out in my head, but when Julie and I quickly decided that food and drinks were happening, I instantly felt better.

We were so close to the store when Alice caught up to us and had me some advice for me for the few days I had left. Drinking beer and eating burgers was not her advice. But honestly it was burgers and beers with Julie that settled my nerves. Sorry, Alice, I know this was not the healthy meal you had in mind, but it was the meal that I needed.

Alice gave me strict orders to start eating healthy that night, to not run again until Saturday, and to only run a slow 3k as a shake out run – I did none of these things. As bad as I’ve been with training I knew what I needed to do before my race, and the coaches said to stick with what you know. Thursday night pints after running is what Julie and I knew best. I probably shouldn’t recommend this as a training meal, but really all that I could have possibly have done to prepare for the marathon was over. I just had to survive the next few days, drive to Picton, wake up early Sunday morning, eat, then run. Easy… here’s hoping.

Getting marathon ready.

Before Erin and I set off on our voyage to Prince Edward County I tried to stick to the tapering schedule for race week. After running the long 32k (when I really shouldn’t have given how close it was to race day, but did anyway) I took Monday off as I usually do, Tuesday I went to yoga at Kula as a break from the heat. According to Alice yoga in the heat is not considered tapering. So I listened this time. Wednesday was a bit of a yoga overload as I taught two classes and ended up taking two classes. Oops! Good thing Tuesday’s class was a non-heated class.

Then the ups and downs of Thursday rolled around. Julie gave me the boost of confidence I needed to get me going and I actually felt ready. Or more carefree rather. I knew I was going to finish this marathon. I knew (despite my “bad” training decisions) I was ready then as I’ll ever be. What more could this race want from me?! When Friday came I ran a quick and easy 5k shake out run and got rid of all the worries Thursday’s actual run brought on. It’s scary to go running only days before your race and I couldn’t help but worry about everything. Every step, every twitch, every ache, my brain was playing some serious tricks on me! Friday was a day to clear all that out. I have a thing were I can’t run or do anything the day before a race so I was not going to run on Saturday. All I could hope for now was my months of training will finally pay off.

Warning here’s the spoiler: they did!