Climbs and Crossings

Saturday afternoon, @HalfMarathons tweeted this photo with the caption: Wind's gonna be strong tomorrow at the Big Sur Marathon. It blew down this port-a-potty already out on the course.  I don't know what's worse, the thought of wind that strong during the marathon, or the thought of being in that port-a-potty.  The weather in Monterey was beautiful Saturday. After the Expo, where Bart Yasso was hanging out at the Runner's World booth, and Dean Karnazes was giving a talk, we had lunch and walked the wharf. There were lots of commercial fishing boats docked along the pier to ogle and fish markets down at the end. Walking back toward the beach I heard from below a frantic "Stop paddling! Stop paddling!" I would say, just don't make eye contact and throw it in reverse.  The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent relaxing, eating, and preparing for the 3am wake up call to catch the bus. I did  Big Sur last year , but if you remember, part of...

The week BEFORE running a marathon. The taper week. The what's done is done week. It's at this point that you are either in a panic realizing you can't go back in time and get in one more long run, or you're sitting back having enjoyed the journey trusting your training. I'm mostly doing the first part. Just take me back about 3 weeks, I need to get in a 20 miler. All I can do with five days to go is hydrate, sleep, eat, and run some shake out miles...and do my best to not drive myself and those around me nuts. The Taper Madness has set in. Many of the symptoms are universal (obsessiveness, anxiety) although they manifest in different ways in different folks. Here are a few of mine: 1. I'm spending every waking moment either thinking about the marathon or trying not to think about the marathon. If I'm sitting on the couch with the tv on, I may be staring at the wall recalculating splits or trying to remember which mile last year I started cramping...