Training Tuesday: The Beginning of the End

One week of taper down, 12 days until the marathon--eek!!!  I can't believe it is already October.  I signed up to run the marathon with Autism Speaks waaaay back in January, before the race registration even opened (and subsequently crashed, filled, and closed).  It seemed ages away for so long, and here it is right around the corner suddenly.  Crazy!  Just in case I hadn't admitted it to myself yet, I found this little reminder that marathon day is approaching hidden under some papers on my desk yesterday!

A Good Luck card from my class!  (I think I have my room mom to thank for instigating this one...)

 

Aww.

"Good luck I hope you win!"

Love when the kids ask if I win my races...if only you knew, kids...

After last week's 20-miler, I was feeling a little banged up.  Tight arches, a tight hip flexor, and most troubling, a sore, tender outer edge of my left foot.  I rested Monday and attempted a short run Tuesday, but my foot hurt, and I ended up stopping after a quarter mile.  Now is not the time to push it, right?  I was pretty nervous about it, but I remember having a simlar pain in the same place after my first (painful) half marathon.  That one went away in a couple days with plenty of icing, and luckily for me this pain did too.  By Thursday I was running again with no issues.  I'm guessing I ended up compensating for super tired legs by doing something weird, leading to the soreness.  Luckily that's all it was!

I have already started making obsessive packing lists and schedules for the weekend.  Control freak much?  Can't help it, this is who I am. :)

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I have my shoes ready, complete with a new Autism Awareness shoe charm from one of my running buddies!!

All that's left is to finish out the taper, roll and stretch these loose muscles, and get my mind in the game.  Oh, and work on that marathon playlist...any song suggestions?  Come on, you know how important this is!