Three weeks and counting

In less than three weeks—three weeks from yesterday—I'll be in Bath running the half marathon.

Three weeks, people! Three weeks!

In fact, two weeks from today I'll be going to the airport to catch my flight to London. That's scarier than the run itself.

I think all the pieces are in place. Passport (replaced after purse was stolen in December)—check. Plane tickets reserved and paid for—check. All hotel reservations (London, Bath, Penzance) made and confirmed—check.

Training for the run—um—check?

Okay, it's undoubtedly true that my training for this race has been far more lackluster than past half marathons. Like Whidbey '07 and '08, which were, not coincidentally, among my very best finishes.

On the downside (and it's a big downside), I haven't been doing any speedwork to speak of, not even my own half-assed style of speedwork. I just run. And "run" is a pretty extreme term to describe my slogging shuffle.

On the upside, I have consistently kept my mileage pretty well up. (Note the equivocal term here.) Granted my weekly totals are not up to the aspirational 32-mile-per-week average goal that I set myself for 2009. (Next up: revising my goals for 2009.) Although this last week was 32.5 miles, I have been more regularly doing 25-30 miles, even less on a couple of occasions when I had 5K's on the weekend.

Or like this week, when I am doing a 10K on Saturday and chose not to run this morning because my legs were still tired from the 12.5 miles I didn't finish until 4 p.m. yesterday. I made the judgment call (this morning at 6 a.m.) that 14 hours was not enough recovery time between runs.* So I'll be lucky to get 20 miles in over the week.

But I have been regularly doing at least 10 miles almost every Sunday,** and frequently 11 or 12, as I have been for almost the entire last year. So in theory, I am always ready to run a half marathon.

I fear this turning into a gloomy "I am so slow" post, but I am not going there. The run will be what it will be.

On the upside—and it's a big upside—it's in England! And I'll be in London for three days before going to Bath! And in Penzance, Cornwall, for three days after!

I'm especially looking forward to Penzance, not just because the run will be done by then. We are staying at what looks to be a really great hotel, the Abbey Hotel, and Penzance is an extremely quaint and charming seaside town, easily accessible by a long, scenic train ride. Not to mention that Cornwall is the home of Cornish pasties and the most delicious clotted cream. And you can walk for miles along the paths that line the coastal perimeter.***

So, two weeks to go! There are still a few things to accomplish before I go. Even with the passport already in hand. Bills to pay, and such nonsense. Packing to be done (without buying new clothes). Camera to be found! (Yes, I have misplaced my new camera. The one I bought on the day before leaving for Vegas, after my former camera was stolen out of my car along with my purse, passport and Tiffany heart earring. Oh yeah, I never did finish a Las Vegas race report, so that story has not yet been told.)

Gosh, with all that stuff to do, why am I just sitting around here?



*So I stayed in bed instead. I did watch a yoga show on the Oxygen channel while I was lying there. I didn't participate because that would have required getting out of bed. I did join in on some of the seated and floor poses which I could do in the bed. Then I fell asleep during shavasana.

**Again, except for the ones with 5K's and while we were snowed in over Christmas.

***Walk, I say! Not run.