Sunday, October 23, 2016

The Taper...

I am tapering, I promise. But, yesterday was the ZOOMA Amelia Island Half Marathon and I'm a ZOOMA Race Ambassador. So obviously I had to do it...

Unfortunately I wasn't able to travel up to north Florida for the race on Saturday morning because I spent all day Thursday and Friday course directing an advanced trauma nursing course...

So instead of being able to enjoy all the festivities of the event I ran the race virtually...

I ran the first 8 miles with Mary...

and then drove back home and ran the last 5.1 miles around my complex...

I didn't want to break up the run because I like to see the full distance in one session; but the route that Mary and I ran was pretty dark (we started at 4:30am) and I didn't feel comfortable running in the area by myself (especially with all the recent stories in the news about crazy clowns and runners being assaulted and killed). 

It was a slow "half marathon" (for both sessions) because I'm tapering, and because my legs might still be a little tired from being on my feet for most of the past few days, and because there might still be some lingering fatigue from the 21 mile run I did last weekend. 

Now that the ZOOMA virtual half is over I officially have one more "long run weekend" before the big event of 2016...

I'm simultaneously excited and nervous about it. I feel ready. I trained properly (I think). I listened to my body. I paced myself. I allowed myself to enjoy the process more (except running in the Summer; that sucked). And I didn't overdo the cross training and weight training (but at the same time I admit that I didn't do nearly as much as I should have). 

Speaking of cross training... I went on a nighttime bicycle ride last night...
I'm not that great with bike riding because I have a condition known as CBD (chronic balance deficiency), but I didn't fall last night (progress!). Although I came close to falling a few times, I managed to stay upright throughout the ride. And despite the sustained tachycardia, I had a really really great time :)

Those cycling miles combined with my running miles helped me achieve another Amerithon Fitness Challenge badge!

But I'm still a long way away from finishing (after all it is 3,521 miles)...

And I definitely need to work harder if I'm going to finish it within a year (by June 2017). I decided to display the map and the base on the medal in my room for extra motivation...

Hopefully that will encourage me to earn the medal pieces that I get to mount on the medal base as I progress towards the 3,521 mile mark...

Besides my taper (and my ongoing Amerithon Challenge goals) I've been spending a lot of time thinking about 2017 and building my race calendar for next year. This is what I have so far...
I'm still missing a second Ragnar Relay (I want to do two next year), and a few other races that I need to make a final decision on based on my running budget. To help with the budget I decided to do some of the local races again (i.e. A1A & Miami Beach) because I'm trying to save money for travel during the Fall. 

The  2017 Fall season will host at least one marathon (but hopefully two). I'm contemplating the Berlin Marathon in September (if I get in), or the Chicago Marathon in October (again; if I get in). If I don't get into Berlin or Chicago then I'll probably look into the Detroit International Marathon (October) and the Philadelphia Marathon (November). 

Has anyone run Berlin, Detroit or Philly? What are your thoughts on those race?

If you've done the Amerithon Challenge, how long did it take you to finish?

Who else has a Fall marathon coming up? How is your training/tapering going?

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