Change of Pace

The marathon is less than a week away. Just as I wrote that I got a little nervous and a butterfly flitted across my midsection. A week? What happened? I was so busy with my work schedule in the past few weeks, and was so wishing our event season would be done, I didn't really think about the proximity of the marathon. I also didn't think about the fact that once the event season would be over, the marathon would be here. Now, here it is. The week prior.

I will say, that the past couple of weeks have been great in terms of marathon training. First, it's been nice and cool. After a hot summer, the cool temperatures are a nice change of pace. It also makes running much easier. Secondly, the mileage is better! Hah, I'm really loving the taper. It takes much less time to go for a run when it's only 3 to 6 miles.

Last week I went on a 3-mile run in my neighborhood. It was a route I pretty much always take for 3-milers. Usually I take it pretty easy since it's completely on concrete, unless I run in people's yards. Even the roads are concrete. But, occasionally I ramp it up and try to see how quickly I can do it. Well, last week I finished the 3.03-mile route in 00:26:18. Bam! That means my 5K time would probably be under 26 minutes 30 seconds, again, Bam! I felt so good about it that I think my goal after the marathon is to bring my 5K time down to around 25 minutes. It's going to be spectacular. We'll see if it happens over the winter. Sometimes it's hard to do significant running in the winter months. I'm hoping I can get some good outdoor running in over the winter. The treadmill might be the death of me now that I've been running outdoors exclusively for the past five or six months. If I make my 5K goal, I'm going to start working on reducing my 10K time. I'm pretty excited to move on to something new.

In other news, my friends and family have been incredibly supportive through the whole process including financially. My supporters have contributed over $1,100 dollars toward my fundraising! That is phenomenal and I'm so appreciative of all of those contributions. If you're reading this and you've made a donation, Thank you. Your support means a lot. You'll be receiving an official thank-you after the marathon.

For now, I'm going to start making some spaghetti for dinner. To be honest, I made the sauce a while ago and just pulled it out of the freezer today. Carbo loading begins now! :)