This Time Next Week...

It is September 27, the start of what is supposed to be a really great month. We leave Friday to go to Portland. This time next week I'll be finished with the marathon, hopefully with a time and experience that I'll be happy with. I may not be racing again for a while.

What does this week have in store? I won't run tomorrow (forced day off), and I will likely opt for sleeping in on Tuesday morning instead of going to the workout. I do have some lingering issues with my left big toe, which is still causing tightness in the left hamstring. The toe thing is aggravated by any kind of non-easy running, so I'm not going to do any pace work at all until the marathon. I'm still very confident in my abilities to run a great race...I just don't want to aggravate my toe any further in the hopes that I can toe the start line pain-free next Sunday. Wednesday and Thursday will be short, easy runs, then we travel on Friday. I'm hoping the week flies by.

The weather is looking to be good for running. It will likely be in the mid 40's at the start (perfect in my opinion) and possibly a chance of rain. Here is the NOAA site. Here is the Accuweather site (which I don't really trust until 2-3 days beforehand). I'm excited to pack jeans, sweaters and a coat for tooling around in Portland. That is also perfect tea, coffee, wine drinking weather, so bring it on!

This past week of running was pretty good...a rain run on Tuesday with Jon and Keith (loved watching us all splash in the huge puddles and staring at the fast-moving swollen creeks), some good easy running in the 'hood, a workout with my hubby that was right on pace, and a fun 15 miler with the 3:15-3:20 men where I got to let go a bit on the downhill (why am I not running St. George again? I swear I would run 3:15 there this year). This season has been a good one getting used to my faster self, trying to figure out where I fit in the pack of the team. It will be a relief to let my body heal, to try some other things (yoga, aquajogging, weights, maybe a casual bike ride) in the weeks after Portland.

I'm also right on track weight-wise. I'm hovering between 139-140 (which I haven't been in a really long time), and if I were to stay here all week that would be okay. I feel strong. I'm still really careful about nutrition with the reduced mileage of our taper.

This year I'm going to start packing early. As soon as I hit 'Publish Post', I'm going to take out our suitcases and put them in the bedroom. The race outfit, shoes, and GUs will be gathered today. Hurray!