Thankful and bloated
Had a great thanksgiving with family yesterday, with lots of opportunities to think about the many things I have to be thankful for, a great family being the most important. Needless to say, it was a day of a lot of very good eating. Among the many things I have to be thankful for is the fact that it finally came to an end. Back to the diet!
Yesterday morning I had planned to run a 5K. I signed up, but I decided to run with my wife and kids rather than press on to the front and try to set a PR. So my time was a bit slower than before — just under 35 minutes, as opposed to the hoped-for sub-20. The turnout at this race (Run for the Hungry) was amazing — somewhere in the neighborhood of 30,000, and the streets were packed. Unless you started right at the front you were not going to get an especially good time because the crowds were so thick. I ran with my daughter (10) and one son (7) for about a mile, but when my son started to tire he dropped back and joined his twin brother, who was running with my wife. My daughter and I pressed on, and she ran the entire way. The crowd thinned a bit at the end, allowing us to pick up the pace a bit more. We ran the first mile in over 13 minutes, and I’m guessing we ran the last mile in under 10 minutes, so she did decently for someone who’s never run that far continuously before. I may try to get her out to more races in the future.
So now there are nine days to go until the marathon. I need to get in just a little more fast running and a little more marathon pace running, but only modest overall miles. It is essential that my legs have to be fresh when the race starts. Since I skipped my running group’s interval workout on Tuesday, and didn’t run the 5K, and will need to do an interval workout today or tomorrow and then do a moderate run of 60 to 70 minutes on Sunday. From then on it will be mostly easy, minimal mileage running until the marathon.
As part of my new training regimen I’ve started doing some curls and pushups. I’m doing limited reps right now to get my body re-accustomed to the exercises while trying to avoid any kind of strains or pulls. I can’t afford to get any kind of injury before the marathon.
