Weekly Log 8-Apr to 14-Apr-2013

Final tapering week before Boston.  Re-reading the following mile-by-mile course and history to get me energized for the race:

Monday:  0
Cheerfully took a day off after Clamdigger success.

Tuesday:  4
76 degrees!  Better today than next Monday.  Easy run through Misquamicut.  No pain!  No soreness!

Wednesday:  8
Loop around Winnapaug Pond.  On Atlantic Ave, ran 12 x [2 poles hard, 2 poles jog].  Felt good.

On a side "proud Dad" note, went to Matthew's 2nd track meet of the season, this one was a 4-team meet on Galoob's turf at Curtis Corner Middle School:  He was really bummed that the coach made him run the 1,500 instead of the 3,000 - I'm guessing most other middle schoolers would feel the opposite?  He started out in about 5th place and just kept pickin' 'em off.  He passed the leader just at the start of the bell lap, but the leader wouldn't have any of it - each time Matthew passed him or came up next to him, the leader would surge ahead.  Came down to the final 100 yards when Matthew apparently had more in the tank, and he finished by winning the race by 1 second in 5:08.  The 800 and relays were more humbling for him, but his 1,500 win was really cool to watch.

Thursday:  5
4:30AM run from my house with FiveK, well, kind of.  I felt good, but right from the start, I could sense something was off with Tom's gait and pace, as it wasn't our usual pushing the pace show.  Ran out Watch Hill Road, but by the time we were down in Avondale area, Tom asked me to just go on ahead so he could walk/jog.  Offered to run home and drive back, but he said he was good.
Ran the couple remaining miles down by the beach at 6:30 pace.  My plan was if his car was still at my house when I got back, I'd drive out and get him.  Fortunately just as I was returning home, Tom was driving out of the neighborhood.  He said it was similar to the time he had hip issues when we went running with Crutch a while back, but not as bad.  Let's hope...

Friday:  0
Planned to take either today or tomorrow off.  Today was an easy call with pouring rain and wind.
Went to Boston Expo and got my bib and shirt.  At work, colleagues asked me various questions.  The most bizarre were serious questions from non-runners, including:

• Will you finish in less than 2 hours? (uh. that would be a world record)
• How long is this marathon?  (are they different lengths?)
• Do you think you have a shot at winning?  (seriously?)

Saturday:  5
Westerly Hospital loop.  Easy 7:20s pace.  Final jog tomorrow before marathon.

Sunday:  4
Final run.  Easy pace run (7:40s) with Tom and Lulu.  At the start of the run (from Tom's house), Lulu was skeptical of me (who isn't?), but seemed to accept me by the end of our Weekapaug run.  Lots of down time and rest today.  Watched "Run, Fat Boy, Run", a funny movie about a totally unprepared guy running a marathon in London (let me know if anyone wants to borrow it), and will try to fight the urge to go outside today and do needed yard work in this nice weather.

Weekly mileage:  26

Week recap:  The taper has finally ended.  Let's see what happens on Patriot's Day, and then I'll probably take Tuesday completely off.  Then so looking forward to mixing it up with starting up triathlon training, and getting back to some fun trail runs as well.  This past week's weather is a tease reminding us that summer is coming soon.