Tapering

Since my 20 miler, I've been involved in a process known as tapering. The running gurus tell me that by reducing mileage in the 3 weeks preceding the marathon, my muscles will recover and I'll feel great on the big day. I think it's just a way to keep getting runs in as the amount of daylight dwindles. Either way, a "long run" is now 12 or 8 miles, and the Thursday before the marathon I'll run a whopping 2 miles. 2 miles is almost not worth getting up for anymore.

Only 12 days until the marathon. I'm waiting in fearful anticipation of the day when the 10-day forecast includes marathon weekend. Will it be hot, cool, rainy, sunny…snowy? (This is Minnesota after all). I've got my participant's guide and I think I'm set with all my gear. All that's really left now is to eat more carbohydrates than one would think possible, and then run the marathon.

If you're in the Twin Cities on Oct. 4, it would be fantastic if you could take a little while to come down to the course and cheer me (and everyone else) on. Would you rather watch Sunday morning talk shows or 11,000 runners in the beautiful setting of the Twin Cities before church? I think the answer is quite obvious… ;)

Whether you're in the Cities or not, you'll be able to track me in real time the day of the marathon. It even shows where I am on the course (well, a lot of it is extrapolation, but assuming I don't get lost, it should be pretty accurate). I'll post the details of how to do this once the day draws near, but until then, you can always check out the spectators page on the marathon website for all kinds of fun information. The website is here: http://www.mtcmarathon.org/Spectators/index.cfm

TC Marathon Countdown: 12 days