14 days to go...

This past week was the start of our three week "taper." I did two 5 mile runs, a one hour spin class, a two mile run and then today I ran 14 miles. I felt good all week although I have that nagging feeling that many runners get during the taper, that they aren't running enough.

I checked the athens classic marathon website and read that there are 14 days until the race. What?! Yes, just two weeks away - hard to believe! The temperature in Athens is highs in the low 60s and Istanbul seems to be a tad bit cooler than that...hopefully this week I can actually start to do the girly, wardrobe-planning thing.

Today a funny thing happened though - I ate a normal pre-race meal of toast with peanut butter, banana and honey, with some coffee. But then realized that with all the Halloween and School Fall Festival prep last week, I still had no GUs. So, McGyver style, I used what I could find to pull off a running replenishment miracle. I filled my fanny pack with two fig newton cookies, four candy corns I found in the bottom of my tea canister (they were from last year...eww!), and for good measure, two sugar packets. Then I filled a water bottle with Gatorade, grabbed my hyper dog, and went for a run.

It was one of the best runs I have had in a while! I am seriously considering ditching the Gu/Cliff Gel thing altogether, because I know they upset my tummy. I just thought of them as miracle food, and thought maybe they could run the last 8 miles of the marathon for me. I'm not even kidding there. However, in order to take in enough of the icky sugar gels to help me, it ends up tying my stomach in knots so I can't even stand straight. The cookies and candy and gatorade seemed to do the trick just fine and I felt strong for the entire run.

Of course, 14 miles feels like small potatoes after running 19, but it was nice all the same. Also I am happy to report that my hyper dog turned into a pokie little puppy by about mile 10 and I had to drag his butt down the mountain that we ran up today (in the sun!). Sometimes it seems like he can never get worn down and even though now he seems fully recovered and hyper again, 12 hours later, at least for a few miles today I felt like I actually tired him out.

So, with 14 days to go I am still learning and tweaking my training plan. I understand why people swear to never run another marathon after they run their first marathon. The time, the running and the training are brutal (and all those porta potties!!). But I also understand why people run their first, and then start to plan their second marathon. Learning is a process and until you run those 26.2 miles, I don't think you will ever be fully prepared to run 26.2 miles. We'll see after the race which camp I fall into - maybe both!