Today I am thankful for...

• Four day weekends!
• Finishing my last 20-mile run last Friday!
• Lots of new snow in the mountains (for skiing)!
• A good weather forecast for the Seattle (Half) Marathon on Sunday!
• Orange vegetables! (Squashes and sweet potatoes.)
• Really good plea bargains (for clients)!
• (And in the same vein) no trials next week!
• University of Oregon beating Arizona in double overtime last Saturday and getting a little closer to the Rose Bowl!
• Not exactly tapering but cutting back a little to help keep my legs fresh for December 6!

There's a Facebook thing that people have been doing, posting a status update each day with what they are thankful for. Everyone seems to be thankful for their families, good health, their jobs and so forth. I have resisted participating because although I am indeed thankful for all those things, my thankful thoughts always seem so self-centered. Like, "I am so thankful it didn't rain during my run this morning!"

I did my final 20-mile run last Friday. I took the morning off from work to enjoy this delightful experience. My plan was actually to do 18 miles, but I kept the idea of 20 in the back of my mind, just because I would feel a little more accomplished if I added on the extra two miles. I used a 10-mile loop from my house, doubling it to end up at 20. I actually needed to stop by the house halfway through, so that worked out well for me.

Total running time 3:14:14 (not including potty stops and such), average pace 9:42. Splits were all over the place—although clustering around 9:45, not surprisingly—10:24, 9:53, 9:41, 9:42, 9:51, 9:44, 9:25, .58 for .10 (9:22 pace), 9:19, 9:48, 8:47 for .90 (9:50 pace), 9:46, 9:35, 9:42, 9:43, 10:07 (ouch), 9:40, 9:35, 9:36, 9:48, 8:49 (I like to finish strong!).

Saturday I took off from running and spent a couple hours at the Y, mostly on the elliptical but throwing in 10 pushups and a 15-second plank—my half-hearted stab at a little core/strength work, which I've been sadly neglecting in my running blitz.

Then Sunday we went skiing! It was my first trip up for the season. I have to say that I was a clumsy clod for most of the time. It actually didn't help that we had piles of wonderful fresh new snow, because plowing through too much soft snow makes me more nervous (I'm afraid of getting stuck). I didn't feel like I was getting my ski legs back until the last run (we only skiied for half a day). On the good side, my legs did not feel tired at all, even after the more challenging bits. I suspect that running has my quads up to any skiing challenge I might dare to take on.

Monday was not really a recovery run this week, since I had two days off already after Friday's long run, but I ran slowly enough that it might as well have been. 8.10 miles, 1:18:40, average pace 9:42. Splits: 10:54, 10:10, 9:58, 9:46, 3.33 for .36 miles (9:53 pace), 9:28, 9:33, 9:14, 6:01 for .74 miles (8:07 pace for that 3/4 mile stretch!).

Today is Speedwork Wednesday, but in the spirit of Not Tapering I ran longish and did minimal speedwork, just four quarter-mile intervals near the end of my run. I don't have the Garmin data downloaded, but when I looked at it after the run I had run 8.56 miles total, average pace about 9:26. My four quarter-miles ranged from about 7:35 pace to 7:50 pace, and I did finish with a recovery mile in about 8:50.

Tomorrow, Thanksgiving, I would usually go to the special workout at the YMCA, but I have decided to run instead because we're going skiing on Friday and I need to rest my legs a bit on Saturday in preparation for the half-marathon on Sunday. I'm meeting up with a group of other people (so unusual for me) at 9 a.m., so my plan is to go out at 8:00 and do a few miles in advance before I do four miles with them. Need to burn a few calories in preparation for the eating to come!

In case I don't have a chance to post again this weekend, I'll say a word about my goals for the Half-Marathon on Sunday. My goal is not to try to PR. My goal is not to try to run too fast. My goal is to see what I can do at an "easy race pace." (Hopefully that will translate to approximately two hours for the half, but we shall see.) My goal is, at the finish, to feel like I can do it all over again. Immediately. At the same pace. So we shall see how it goes....