Skip to main content

What's worse than running a marathon?

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. On the other hand, ask me if I have thought about checking the weather...
I JUST finally pried my fingers away from weather.com, WHY WHAT DID YOU HEAR? 
2. On an easy run this afternoon I convinced myself my right foot had forgotten how to run. What, you didn't know that was a thing? One of my toes had an unusual (and completely harmless) pain, which led me to panic and focus completely on my toe, which made me panic and focus on my foot and analyze every aspect of the way it was moving and touching the ground. It became like that thing where you say a word over and over and it loses meaning. My right leg became a spaghetti noodle, and my foot had no clue what it was supposed to be doing. Good news though, I recovered from that emergency and was able to finish my run.

3. I am unable to do many things I normally do at work that require lifting heavy objects because I'm running a marathon this weekend. Basically everything I do or eat or drink or think I'm thinking about how it may affect my marathon this weekend.

4. I have to spend a lot, or all, of my time online reading tweets, blogs, etc because I need to know what everyone else is saying about the marathon this weekend.

5. I wake up every morning thinking and sometimes saying out loud "WHY CAN'T IT JUST BE TODAY!"

It's Tuesday night. I just have to survive the Madness and not succumb to my imaginary injuries and emergencies. That are totally real.

Gotta go check the weather, reconfirm the hotel reservation, and make sure my running shoes are where I last left them...
Labels:

Comments

  1. KarenApril 24, 2012 at 8:14 PM

    Hehe, breathe sweetie. :) You're gonna be awesome regardless of what the weather does. And if you wear your running shoes out of the house when you drive away, you won't forget them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 25, 2012 at 6:13 AM

    so you have become a total compulsive running neurotic...very cool! All healthy conditions that lead to nothing but your best Marathon to date! Focus on the incredible surroundings your will be running...the coastal views are breathtaking....there for your eyes only! hugs & love

    ReplyDelete
  3. notthatlucasApril 25, 2012 at 9:08 AM

    Nicely put - and if I didn't go through all this I'd be worried about that. Survive taper week and enjoy your race. It will get here eventually. Probably.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnnApril 29, 2012 at 5:48 PM

    Lia, I am linking to this post in my weekly newsletter. I don't know how to get in touch with you though so I thought I would let you know this way. Love this blog. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Year's One Day 12 Hour (Uh, 7 Hour) Race Report

Here's the idea: You pay actual money to run around in a circle for either 6, 12, or 24 hours. This is how you choose to spend your New Year's Eve.  That's it. That's the course. Just keep turning right until midnight.  Each time you complete a lap, you pass under the finish arch, that is never actually the finish line, and over a timing mat that tracks the number of laps you've done and displays it on a screen. This should actually say, "KEEP GOING FOR MORE HOURS" You're looking at the same people lap after lap. It's the Golden Gate Bridge over and over again. You're not actually getting anywhere.  What is the point of what we are doing. That question is exactly why I love this race.  Here are hundreds of people, lap after lap, living entirely inside their own heads for hours and hours, each with a different answer to that question.  Last year I ran because I just wanted to find out if I could do it. I wan...
10 comments
Read more

American River 50 2014: There can be no other title except MY FIRST 50 MILE RACE REPORT

This is a big deal. Without fail, there is somebody at every ultra I've run that I hear say, Oh, I'm not really trying for anything today, I'm just using this as a training run for my self supported run across Canada next month. I'll probably just cartwheel the whole thing.   I heard this type of exchange on the bus on the way to the start. "It's only a 50 miler, so the heat shouldn't even be an issue." It's a good thing it was dark... The "it's only a 50 miler" comment snapped me out of the anxious mind chatter and got me refocused. The few weeks leading up to the race, any time it came up, GeNene would say to me, "This is a big deal." Then I started saying it, and understanding what it really meant. This is something that I used to talk about doing "someday". It seemed really far off. I believed I could do it, but it would happen to some distant future version of me. "This is a big deal" m...
2 comments
Read more

Skyline to the Sea 50k, I lived.

To say the week preceding the race was an emotional roller coaster would be an understatement. What I didn't know, was that it would be nothing compared to my experience out on the trail. I had said going in my goal was a sub 6 hour finish, and, unknowingly foreshadowing my race, I added, "but you never know what can happen out there." My decision to run ultras came long before my actual ability to run them, so after collecting a couple years of trail running under my belt I finally felt ready to take the plunge. Skyline to the Sea came at just the right time providing a net downhill course with just over 3,000 ft of elevation gain. If you're not aware of the on again off again drama that ensued surrounding this race, refer to my previous post  here . Race morning, standing at the trail head with over 200 other runners, a collective feeling of gratitude hung in the warm air as Wendell counted us down to start. Spectators lined the street above us, and the runners e...
10 comments
Read more