Actually I think three weeks is plenty of time to recover in between half marathons. Lots of people do a full marathon only a few weeks after a half, and I ran Robie Creek back in April only six days after Whidbey.
I'm not sure where my qualms are coming from now. I think it may be because I was just a little bit slower in Maine than I had hoped, and even though it was only a couple of minutes between what would have made me happy and what disappointed me, this has somehow shaken my confidence in my abilities.
Which is ridiculous.
But, for the purposes of Victoria, I am letting go of all expectations. Really. I am not going to set some arbitrary goal that will crush me if I don't make it. I'm just going to run at the speed that my body wants to run, and we'll see how it comes out. Now, I already know that if I do "good" I'll be whooping it up here. But I am vowing that regardless of how fast or slow I am, I will announce it proudly.
And here are all the other great things I have to look forward to in Victoria next weekend.
- Friday and Monday off from work!
- Gorgeous ferry ride from Anacortes to Sidney BC on Friday (and back on Monday).
- Staying at the beautiful, grand, luxurious Empress Hotel in Victoria.
- A visit to the Butchart Gardens on Saturday (as long as the weather is okay).
- The extended forecast for Victoria shows more sun symbols than rain symbols on the weekend.
- The race expo!
- Pasta dinner is at the Empress (not a school cafeteria!) and the speaker is Dick Beardsley.
- The half marathon starts at 7:30 a.m. so I'll be finished by around 9:30.
- I signed up for a mini-massage after the run.
- The full marathon doesn't start until 8:30 so I can watch and cheer on some of those runners if I want... or else I can go take a nap in the hotel room.
- Afternoon tea at the Empress, 2:15 p.m.
In anticipation of the upcoming run, and figuring that I have a good 500 miles on my current running shoes (which I bought prior to the Anacortes half in July), I went down to Roadrunner Sports yesterday to get a new pair. But... they didn't have them (Asics Gel Kayano is the only shoe I've used for like two years). However, they did find me a pair at Super Jock and Jill up the road, so I zipped over there and got shod.
I also, on a shopping whim, picked up a new pair of Nike capris and a shirt (dark green and light green), which I will probably wear in Victoria. Even though I have told myself time and again, only black running pants, I think the very dark green is close enough to black that it should be okay. (The reason is that lighter colors tend to accentuate flaws and bulges. And I just don't need that.)
On a later whim after I got home yesterday evening, I went to the Nike website and ordered a semi-matching (light green, hopefully close to the same shade) half-zip top, light jacket—to cover all the weather bases—and running cap. Hopefully they will arrive by Thursday. I chose to pay extra for two-day air, but couldn't bring myself to double the shipping again to get one-day air. So I'm gambling a little bit. If I don't get the stuff on time, I'll either do without in Victoria or save the green outfit for another race.
Since I was already in Seattle it made sense (of course it did) to stop by University Village where at Lucy I picked up a couple (three) cute shirts and a jacket to match my grey yoga pants (the weather is getting colder, I need to have jackets—and they need to match the pants).
And I went into Barnes and Noble because I just can't not go there. Even though I am tripping over stacks of books, lots of them unread as yet. Even though I love small independent bookstores, I am a Barnes and Noble junkie all the same. They have great table displays too. Not just "Paperback Favorites" and "Reading Group Favorites," but things like "Banned Books" (during Banned Books Week) and "100—or some significant number—Books You Should Read" (which I wish I'd had a notepad with me the time they did that table, because I wanted to write down the titles, which were great ones, not all of which I had read).
Anyhow, as I was wandering through the store I saw a small table with a "Health and Fitness" sign over it. And what was the book featured on this table? Skinny Bitch! All I could think, and say, was NO. NO. NO. I bought this book when it first came out a few years ago, because I thought it would be funny, but I could not even finish reading it because I found it so offensive and abusive, really. Not only do the authors promote veganism in an aggressive, obnoxious way, they are very rude to the reader. In my opinion. NOT funny. NOT inspirational. NOT appropriate for a table labeled "Health and Fitness."
Later that evening I went to a movie with a friend. Actually we ended up going to two movies, because she had her brother watching her one-year-old, and once out of the house, wants to make the most of it. (It would have been cruel for me to say, oh, I could just go another time.) Since I wasn't too horribly tired and my back was not killing me after sitting through one movie, I agreed to the second.
So the first one was Burn After Reading. VERY quirky movie. To say the least. There were at least several points where I found myself saying "OH MY GOD" in various degrees of shock. But I watched the whole movie without feeling bored, so I guess it was a pretty good movie. Not for the faint of heart or prudish, really. I might add, though, that I found the brief scene in the beginning where a plastic surgeon told Frances McDormand's character how he could fix her upper arms and stomach, very interesting. Very interesting.
Then we moved on to My Best Friend's Girl. Also not for the prudish. Or anyone with a sense of taste or decency, really. But apparently vulgarity is the current thing in romantic comedy. However, despite the strong "ewwww" factor, and I must say, a few things that would totally offend anyone with any kind of moral compass, the movie was, largely, entertaining. The scene where Jason Biggs' eyebrow is shaved off is beyond hilarious. (Probably the best part of the entire movie.)
So after being out so late, I missed Saturday Night Live, but was able to watch the VP debate skit on the internet today. I laughed, I laughed. Check it out.
I've run out of time and energy to write about my long run today. Guess that will wait for tomorrow....
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