1 Week To Marathon ! ! !

Monday, May 31st 2010: 4 miles @ 9:29 per mile pace. It was refreshing to get out and stretch my legs after being in the car for 8 hours driving home from California. I am happy to report that no child abuse occured during our 8 hours in the car with grumpy children. Although we did consider investing in some duct tape for children's mouths.

Tuesday, June 1st 2010: 30 minutes on exercise bike. Not exactly top on my list of fun things to do.

Wednesday, June 2nd 2010: Rest. This was the worst day ever for healthy eating in the week before a marathon.

Breakfast: two bowls of Sugar Puffs.
Lunch: I was at a social work converence where they served greasy Mexican food and a sugar cookie for lunch.
On the drive home: a Diet Mountain Dew and huge Maverik peanut butter cookie.
Dinner: lasagna and birthday cake and ice cream. I'm sure all the sugar in my blood stream was making my arteries crystalize. Bad Cory! Bad! Bad! Go to time out!

Thursday, June 3rd 2010: 3 miles @ 9:29 per mile pace. I went out early in the morning and felt terrible. My legs felt like sheet rock. The combination of little sleep and a truck load of sugar the day before definitely caught up with me.

Friday, June 4th 2010: Rest.

Saturday, June 5th 2010: 6 miles @ 10:18 per mile pace. Mel and I went on a new road being built behind Hurricane Elementary. It was fun and challenging. The whole run was either up or down some whopper hills:


Mel snapped this photo of me near the top of one of the hills. She said I looked like an ant.


And here is Mel at the top of one of the hills:


When we were half way through one of the hills I stopped to walk. It felt like my legs might ignight. But Mel kept trucking up, wanting to reach the top before taking a break. She is strong and determined.

With a week before the marathon, it's so hard to know if I have trained adequately. Or if I've been tapering too long. Or if I've run enough miles. Or if my achy knees will hold up for 26.2 miles. It's easy to have insecurity and doubt creep in.

"I had as many doubts as anyone else. Standing on the starting line, we're all cowards."
-Alberto Salazar, three-time winner of the NYC marathon

Then I have to remind myself that I HAVE worked hard. Of course, there's always more I could have done. But I did the best I could with what I had to work with. I know that in one week, I will give 100% and cover those 26.2 miles as fast as my chicken legs will take me.


"If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run." ~ John Bingham