next step.

my "recovery" from the marathon is taking some time. i went for a 3 mile run last sunday and it kinda hurt. a lot. at least now (wednesday) i can sit down and stand up from a chair without wincing in pain. whew!

i'm entered in two races in may: the bay to breakers (san francisco, ca) and the bolder boulder. i'm really excited to go out to sf to see my friend nik, who i haven't seen in almost a year! plus, my roomie kristin will also be in town and is planning to run. it's gonna be a big old reunion (kristin's been training in cali since the end of january).

the bolder boulder is pretty much the only race i've run more than once, so it's the only one on which i've ever really tried to improve my time. i'm hoping to keep it under an hour, which would mean a sub-10-minute mile. which is why i am continuing to train and slowly building back up to a level that will allow me to run 6-7 miles with minimal discomfort.

june through august is kind of up in the air at this point because that's when i like to do my 14-er hiking, which usually involves multi-day overnights and isn't really conducive to long sunday runs. but i'm supposedly training for the boulder backroads half marathon in september, so i guess that means i'll have to sneak in a few runs in between spending massive amounts of money on gas to get to obscure places like silverton, telluride, leadville, aspen and buena vista.

hooray for almost-summer!

it aint over...

well, the marathon is. and i can't believe i ran the whole thing! ok, i walked some of it, but still. i propelled my body over 26.2 miles of hills, and i survived! yay!

i didn't reach my goal time of sub-5 hours (i finished in 5:29), but the way i see it, that's ok. i DID reach my goal of finishing the boston marathon, and i'm pretty proud of myself for that. i had so many great experiences over marathon weekend, from going to the expo and trying on the world series ring to meeting the real pesky pole at the red sox-texas game later that night, to marathon monday itself (i was awake from 3:30 am to 12:30 am, so i really made the most of my day). i'll cover it all in much more detail once i get my life unpacked in the next week or so. this post is just to alert the world that i am still alive.

i also want to say that my friend sarah finished boston this year with an amazing time (and PR) of 3:25! go sarah! she's a rock star.

back to work...

twentysixpointtwomanymiles

well, i've been out of commission for a few days, feeling like crap and all. i think the training has caught up with me. i just feel drained, tired and kind of sick. so my plan is to get lots of rest, eat low-fat (ugh) and high-carb (huh?) and drink a lot of water. hmm. this kind of sucks. my only consolation is that there is an awesome burger joint right near the finish line.

nerves? who said anything about nerves?

in honor of the marathon being 6 days away (too bad i failed to post yesterday - would have made more sense), i came up with a list of (maybe rhetorical) questions about how to survive the day:

(1) if my singlet makes me look fat, can i just run in a chicken suit?
(2) if i vomit from fear on monday, will i lose all of the benefits of my race-week nutrition plan?
(3) can i wear white sneakers before memorial day?
(4) would it be possible for me to take the T from mile 2 to mile 25? thanks.
(5) will my leg actually fall off from too much running, as it does in my dreams?

that's all for now. i'm nervous.

22313.

it's official: this is my race number. because i am slow, i will be starting in the second wave of runners at 10:30 am. also because i am slow, my goal is a sub-5-hour race. but i'll really just be happy to finish! thank god my list didn't say "WIN the boston marathon."

also... in honor of my coach jack (see below, the dude in the flowered skirt), i've decided to run the marathon in my running skirt. unfortunately (for me), i'm pretty sure he has better legs.

men in skirts.

now THAT'S how you run a race.

taper.

that's right, folks. according to my schedule, my coach, my calendar, and my weary body, it's time to taper! of course, i haven't done much actual running lately, but i've definitely had my share of incredibly exhausting workouts. in fact, i did a 5+ hour one on sunday. it was actually pretty fun. i managed to watch 2 1/2 movies at the gym while i busted my butt on various machines. at one point, i was on the bike watching "mr. deeds" (don't ever watch that movie, btw) when one of the personal trainers came over, high-fived me, and congratulated me on being there for over 3 hours. ha! anyway, i told him i had 2 more hours to go, and that hopefully there would be something better on after "mr. deeds" that didn't involve golf, infomercials or fox news. well, what i got next was "what women want." i'm still trying to decide if that was actually better... or if, no matter what, cable tv just makes you stupid.

nerves

the marathon is 25 days away! i can't believe it. i'm definitely excited, but i'm also ridiculously nervous. the usual fears: what if i can't finish? what if my calf hurts too much? what if the weather is too cold/hot/rainy, and that affects my running? what if my leg falls off? etc. these questions, as pessimistic as they are, tend to keep me motivated. i think: well, that's why i'm resting my leg and training: so these things don't happen, so i can finish the race, so my leg doesn't fall off. i also think about my inspirations for running: friends and family who have been affected by cancer, and my own personal goals. oh, and for some reason i always get this mantra stuck in my head: "impossible is nothing." yes - adidas did its advertising job well.

it's definitely getting harder for me to compartmentalize the marathon into the safe "so far away it's almost unreal" box that it's been in for the past 6 months. now, with less than a month to go, it's the real deal. i have my BIG run (which most likely means 5.25 hours of alternative cardio) this weekend - 22 miles. it was 20, but i upped it to 22 because honestly i feel that if i can't run, i need to punish my body as much as humanly possible. hopefully it works and i am in good enough shape to actually run the race. i think it should take up most of the day on saturday or sunday, though i haven't exactly decided which day that will be. i guess it kinda depends on when i feel the most rested. 5-plus hours! whew. i think i'm ready for that, but i'm not sure i'm ready for the marathon. i'm hoping that this workout will give me a huge confidence boost.

we'll see.