Taper me baby

I officially started the taper at about 1:00 Pacific Standard Time. Project Suck It - can Suck It! I think it served it's purpose, but I'll be proving that in exactly 14 days.

Pre-run: My alarm clock has a satellite signal that automatically sets the correct time to whatever time zone your in, but last night I noticed that it said the time was 10:00pm, rather than the actual 9:00pm it really was. I corrected the time - noted that it thought we were in Mountain time and set it for a 5:30am wake up call. Fast forward to the morning. 5:30, alarm goes off. Get up. Forget about the alarm clock discrepancy. Get coffee. Go pee. Fill coffee cup. Sit down and start checking facebook. 15 minutes later look at the time on my computer. 4:45. fml. With all that extra time in the morning I went poop 3 TIMES. That's alot even for me. (Sorry to the weak hearted but you know these are important details to endurance athletes)

Mt. Rainier peeking out of the clouds on my drive this morning.

Run: 22 miles planned. Nice country roads for the most part. Perfect starting temp - 48*. Started out very slow. Goal pace for the first 20 miles was 11:00 pace. (:40 slower than MP), then with a couple of miles left, push it a little. It was pretty good. I was going through a few spells where I was feeling great, and then a couple miles later, "let's just get this damn thang over with so I can relax for the next couple of week." Hitting my gels and salt tablets like a good little girl. Around mile 15 I started getting that stomach gargling action. You know the one. Wtf? Again. I'm thinking I might dehydrate or lose 10 pounds in less than 24 hours at this point. Frantically start scanning the woods that are covered in bushes (meaning 10% friendly fire bushes, 90% sticker bushes). Finally find something that works. Ahhhhh, relief. Minimal scratches. A mile later I am starting to slow down and I end up running into (literally) a couple of guys that usually turn out for our group long runs. They were stretching out on the side of the road. I said, "let's go boys" and kept going. It was a good pick me up at that point, and I sped up a bit. Around mile 18 I started getting 'fuzzy' almost tripped and fell on my face (still to this day I have no idea how I managed to stop myself without using my hands which had a gel in one and a water bottle in the other). I really wanted to get this thing over with. I just put my head down so to speak and gutted it out. I didn't quite make it to 22 miles when I got back to the cars and I didn't feel going 3/4 of a mile was going to make the difference on marathon day. Post-run: I regret that decision at this moment because I feel like I took the easy way out. But really, is 21.27 miles ever easy? Legs very tired and very sore after this one. Btw - NEVER, NEVER use a pumice stone on your feet the morning of a long run. Holy blisterage! There's a reason why runner's feet are so nasty. It's called protection. 16.03 miles/11:11 av pace/151 bpm 5.25 miles/10:13 av pace/171 bpm

Start and stop of the long run. Deschutes River. Old Olympia Brewery in background. The salmon are fiercely trying to make their way up the river right now. I'm going back on Wednesday to try and snap some sweet shots of the flying salmon with my good camera. Will post pictures if it's a success.

Now I get to sit back and relax a little for the next two weeks. It's a great feeling to know all the groundwork has been laid. Here's to tapering.