On I went, out of the wood, passing the man leading without knowing I was going to do so. Flip-flap, flip-flap, jog-trot, jog-trot, curnchslap-crunchslap, across the middle of a broad field again, rhythmically running in my greyhound effortless fashion, knowing I had won the race though it wasn't half over, won it if I wanted it, could go on for ten or fifteen or twenty miles if I had to and drop dead at the finish of it, which would be the same, in the end, as living an honest life like the governor wanted me to. -Alan Sillitoe, "Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner"

Friday, October 1, 2010

Week in review: there are only FIVE WEEKS LEFT

  • Friday:  3m, barely.  No more treadmill for me this season!
  • Saturday:  6.5m, interrupted by a children's festival on my running path.
  • Sunday: xm total: 2m w/u, 1m race, 2m c/d, and then 4m in the afternoon.  (Did you catch that? I totally did a double. My sister's orders.)
  • Monday: rest, sweet rest
  • Tuesday: rest
  • Wednesday: rest. Um, yeah, this is getting old.
  • Thursday: 5m on the treadmill waiting for this week's Storm of the Century to fail to materialize... and then I limped home.
I'm not going to sugar coat this week - it was lame of me.  All of my smug pride over having done a double on Sunday was washed away over the next three days, as I sat around not running.  I should probably just accept Tuesdays as a scheduled rest day instead of feeling guilty about it.  Very lame.

I could use the excuse that I'm tapering for Chicago.  Yeah.  You know, the race that I'm not even racing, that I'm "participating in"?  That's totally exactly what I'm doing: a taper.  Not slacking on my New York training at all.

It's fascinating to me how some of us beat ourselves up for not running (me), while others take pride in the days that they do run and don't fixate on the days they don't.

However, something very, very, very exciting happened to me last weekend.  I. SAW. AN. ELLIPTIGO. IN THE WILD!!!

During my easy run on Saturday, I stopped to take a phone call from my brother (I know, I know, I was totally that guy on the running path).  While on the phone, I saw this green bike/scooter flash past me and it caught my eye.  Suddenly I started squealing: "It's an elliptigo! An elliptigo!"  My brother was freaked out at first, but then I tried to calm down and explain it to him.  It's a hard concept to explain.  He said, "So, wait.  It's like, 'I like using the elliptical, but I have some errands I need to run around town'?"  EXACTLY.  But somehow better in reality than it is in theory.

I'm racing back-to-back this weekend (well, participating in races, but neither for time): Grete's Great Gallop on Saturday and GOGI on Sunday.  I'll be in a skirt and a baseball cap.  Probably purple on Saturday and grey skirt on Sunday.  Say hi!
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3 comments:

  1. Silly Girl RunningFri Oct 01, 08:19:00 AM EDT

    5 weeks to go? I did not need you to remind me of that fact....Pffffieeewww. 5 weeks...I feel so not ready! I'm supposed to be racing a half this weekend, but guess I'll just try to MP it. Or drop out (stupid knee!). Don't know yet. At least I get to go to the marathon expo.

    I saw an elliptigo two weeks ago. With a guy on it. In tights. Got the picture?

    ReplyDelete
  2. MichaelFri Oct 01, 09:50:00 AM EDT

    Do you think it's training fatigue? We've been at this for months now. And now, it's so close, yet still so far away.

    ReplyDelete
  3. JLTMon Oct 04, 07:47:00 AM EDT

    it happens. i dont think that you'll have issues. sometimes you need a small break and then a ramp up before taper. thats my excuse anyway

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