My final long run was this Saturday, logging 22 miles.
As suggested, I attempted to simulate race day. After a packet pick up (for the Love the Run 5k) Friday night, I ate pasta with shrimp, and had a bowl of oatmeal before bed. I woke up and ate a PB&J sandwich (wheat bread, Polaner's strawberry and Skippy Natural creamy), drank orange PowerAde Zero, got dressed ate a banana then drank some more water during the drive to the park. With my fuel belt full of Gu and Fruit Punch PowerAde, I began my run at (ok around) 7, although I took the liberty of sleeping until 5:45, instead of the 5 am alarm I'll set for the morning of March 20.
I started at Theodore Roosevelt Island and followed the Mount Vernon Trail down past Alexandria. Early in the week, I had plotted another run around my neighborhood, so I could run in the street knowing that the sidewalks were still snow-covered. As the week progressed, I had a glimmer of hope I might be able to trail run. I spent some time Google-ing DCs trails and found encouraging reports for MVT. While there were a few snowy spots, overall it was really nice. I had never been on the trail before, but got to run by a lot of my favorite things: the airport, the Metro, the Potomac River, the Wilson bridge. I saw some rowers and a lady with two Golden Retrievers playing fetch in the river. I visited Old Town Alexandria for the first time and admired how nice the GW Parkway is (and am now slightly regretting not signing up for the GW Parkway 10 miler). My turn around point was past Alexandria at Belle Haven. About 6 miles from the end, I could begin to see the Washington Monument. Knowing it was about a mile ahead of where I would finish, I kept it as my focus. I really do love DC, with the water, the monuments, the history, so I'm confident that I made the right decision in making it my first full marathon. I'm trying to mentally prepare myself, and having lots of good things to look at a little goals along the way really helps.
The weather finally cooperated with me. The 50 mph gusts from Friday had dissipated, the clouds parted and I had a bright, sunny happy day to run. The weather was in the low 30s when I started and climbed to the low 40s during the day. I can only hope i will get as amazing weather on race day.
My recovery Saturday was watching Maryland beat Virginia Tech in double OT. I met Grace and Tacy out and upon arriving, found out the game was delayed due to a watermain break. A beer truck backed over a fire hydrant causing all sort of chaos in Blacksburg. So VT. We ate bar food, and I'm glad that I gave up drinking until my race, because I definitely would have drank a lot. My rationale for not drinking is as follows:
My long runs are on Saturdays, so to get the most out of them, I can't drink on Fridays. Then, while my body is recovering, the last thing I should do is poison it with more alcohol. I'm also not the type of person that enjoys having one of two drinks. What's the point of all of those calories if I'm not getting drunk? I might as well drink a Diet Coke or even water... and that's what I have been doing. It's a lot cheaper, and a lot healthier.
Sunday morning, Matt and I ran the Love the One Your With 5k as a couple. Hannah and KB, Rob and Kaitlin and Zach and Diane ran also. Matt and I were the second couple to finish, behind Hannah and KB. While we didn't meet our goal (finish is less than 30 minutes, our time was 30:08, which is actually a PR for me) and we did get beat by both a 6 year old and a 70 year old, I had a lot of fun. It was fun to run and share something like a race with Matt. Plus it gave me an excuse to get crafty and I like the race tshirt (I'm wearing it now, actually.) I felt much better than I thought I would. My calves were a little tight, but nothing that slowed me down during a leisurely 5k. It seemed so short. I also would like to run a 5k for real. The only other one I've ever done was during sophomore year of high school. I'm pretty sure I finished with 9:55 miles or something like that. I'm interested to see how fast I can actually do it, I'm thinking less than 23 minutes.
All in all, I logged 25 total miles this weekend, which is the perfect way to enter my taper. I'm so excited to get to back off on the miles and focus on other things in my life, such as my Peep Diorama and upcoming road trip to South Carolina.
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