And then it was December

I have been silenced over the last couple weeks by a non-working Blogpress app on my iPad. Since most of my writing opportunities are on the iPad, there has been very little writing!

I am now five days out from the Honolulu Marathon, and I feel like I am ready. For the running part, that is...hopefully the packing and trip part will be easy. Packing is always stressful for me!

I did my last "long" run on Friday, November 30. Eight miles at "goal marathon pace" of 10:18. I would have liked it a little faster but that wasn't happening at 6:30 a.m. on a rainy Friday morning. Actually I would also have liked it to be ten miles, but that wasn't happening at 6 a.m. on Friday morning! 6:30 a.m. start = 8 miles and still a close call to get to work on time.

Originally my last long run was going to be on Sunday, but I cleared Sunday just in case we went skiing. As it turns out, there was too little snow and too much rain for skiing on Sunday morning--which was fine with me. I'm just not feeling the ski bug yet. I still kept Sunday as a non-run day, though. My heel and ankle had been a little sore and stiff all week, so I didn't want to push it, since I had also run a little bit hard on Saturday.

On Saturday, December 1, I ran my last 5K of the year (probably my last 5K of the year), the Jingle Bell Run in Mount Vernon. I was not too excited about this run, as the weather was supposed to be rainy and stormy, and it was hard to get myself out of the car to check in, let alone do any warm-up running! But I twisted my arm, and got in just about two miles before the race began.

It never did rain, although it was windy at times, especially during my warm-up (and after-miles). I squeezed in just under two miles before lining up at the start. I had hoped to have a slightly faster 5K for my final race, but it was not to be. Well, my finishing time was faster, but that was because the course was a little short, just under three miles by my watch. My time was 25:28, so I figure if I had done the whole 3.1 miles I would have had the same time as all my other 5Ks this fall, around 26:30.

Afterwards I ran about 2.25 miles more, to give myself a total of seven miles for the day.

Then we went to my parents' house and I made blueberry pancakes.

My final week of running before the marathon looks like this...

Monday - about six miles (I did 7.37 at 10:18 average pace. 10:18 average means the first two miles at 11 minutes and the rest around 10 in order to try and shore up the average.)

Tuesday - cross train (elliptical at the Y--done)

Wednesday - about six miles with 4-6 x 400 m repeats. I'm not sure if I will do those intervals on the track or on the road. With all the rain we've had I suspect the track will be flooded or at least too muddy to run on. If I do them on the road they will be slower than on the track, I just can't help that.

Thursday - a few miles--5, 6, whatever--hopefully at marathon pace or faster. This is the day we leave for Hawaii. I'm working in the morning and we fly out in the afternoon.

I'm not planning on doing any running in Hawaii before the marathon. This is not ideal, as I would like to try a little running in the climate, but I do like to have two days of rest before the marathon.

My great paranoia of the day is fear of getting a cold. I am not feeling 100% right now. I am trying to fend off any lurking cold by drinking Emergen-C and tea with honey. (I started this morning.) I got a cold right before TCM--this cannot happen again!

A final note...the pictures from the Seattle Marathon & Half Marathon are out. Apparently I only finished the race, but did not run it, because there are no on-course photos of me! Here are a couple of decent pictures of me...the rest can remain unseen.

This picture is from about a mile in, when I ran by my parents and threw them my jacket (which was meant to be a throwaway, but now I can keep it for another use!).