Final Taper Week

Strong, swift, soft.

Embrace the pain, refuse to suffer.

Relentless forward progress.

Run when you can, walk when you have to.

Just keep moving.

Holy crap it's hot.

Don't listen to your body, trust your training.

It's funny sometimes where your mind goes while running. Sometimes, especially when you're running solo, you have to talk to yourself to keep from going crazy. (That's right, world. Our rules are different. Join us and let the insanity envelop you like a warm, soft blanket.) And when you start measuring your runs in hours rather than miles, the <thuff-thuff-thuff> of your feet hitting the trail invokes a few, repetitive thoughts or phrases. Naturally the voice in my head goes on and on like a lonely old grandmother with dementia, so the stuff I have listed at the top is a very small list, but I'm willing to bet that many other runners can relate.

Right now though I find myself doing the roughly same thing only I'm not running. I'm "tapering" which in layman's terms is "sitting on my ass and bugging everyone around me about my race this weekend." Only it's not some motivational quote or words of encouragement. It's stuff like:

• That pain in my heel better freaking go away.
• I need to check my nutrition strategy again.
• Is everything I need packed in my running bag?
• How many days left?
• What shirt am I going to wear?
• Is Wednesday the right day to start carb loading?

And so on and so on. Ahh, pre-race jitters. Gotta love 'em.

Speaking of carb loading, I'm kind of looking forward to it; although I really like my protein. Still, three days of sweets and starches and little else will be a fun change of pace: pancakes, spaghetti, rice, sweet potato, bagels, juice, dried fruit, etc. Is it a perfect plan? Probably not. But my body should respond well, it's not something that will cause any negative mental stress, and everything on it is relatively easy to prepare.

So, five more days. Five. All the miles, all the trips to Palo Duro Canyon since May (25 by my count, each one taking ~45 minutes of driving), all the long runs and blisters and 100+ degree days and purchases at Get Fit have led up to this. My first ever 50K trail run. Whatever shape I'm in will have to do. I figure my body is physically capable of running 20 quality miles on the trail, meaning my mind will have to be good for at least another 11. That's the fun part though, and the reason I'm doing it in the first place. Be significant. Besides, if I want to run the 50 mile race next year, I have to get this sucker out of the way first.

One more thing. It's a long shot, but there's always a chance that someone who is actually running the race will read this blog. If you're one of those people who by sheer luck found me here, and you can do it again out at the canyon this Saturday, introduce yourself and I'll let you have one of the ten kitschy, cotton, Palo Duro Canyon t-shirts I came across recently. It has a picture of the Lighthouse and says "I Love Texas!" or something equally cheesy, I forget. They run huge though, so I hope you're a pajama t-shirt kind of person.

Enough rambling. Back to obsessing over my trail groceries.