Thursday, June 11, 2009

drum roll.............

9

So, I printed the last of my race instructions and pace chart last night after re-calculating my expected time out at each aid station due to the change made on the course. Everything is looking good so far. My mom and I are flying to Cleveland June 16 and will be staying with family. (thanks Uncle Bill and Aunt Shelly, Love you!)

The training is done, I only have an 8 miler to walk later today, then I will do one last hurrah on the hills in Bellville this weekend. All my walks will be short ones next week.

The only thing left to obsess over is packing. I am going to make sure all my race stuff is in the carry on. Street clothes will go in mom's checked bag as I am only bringing a few things. Remember I said red trail shoes go with everything? I ordered two pair of my favorite trail shoes and had them shipped to the uncle's house. I will wear them from the time I arrive until race day so they won't be brand new on the trail.

Oh, and I forgot... I don't have a laptop to take along. So sad... how will I exist without Internet access until I get home on the 24th??? I just don't know. I told close friends I will send a group text at the finish to let everyone know how the race went, and I will try to take mental notes for a decent race report when I return to Texas.

I don't know if things can get any crazier during taper madness... please don't hold me responsible for anything I say or do the next several days... my online capabilities will cease at the end of day Monday the 15th, so there will be no outlet for my insanity. What will I do without a computer??? I just don't know. There may be lots of UGA's (unnecessary gear acquisitions) going on. I was shopping for socks at Sierra trading post yesterday.

One interesting thing after my walk last night. Raymond (dh) was talking about the race I am doing with a couple of his friends and he said something that actually made sense. He still does not think I will finish, and the reason he feels that way actually made sense to me. He said that there are very FEW people who could even think about walking or running 100 miles; and he is right. It seems that the percentage of the population who have done a marathon is growing. The people who do 100 mile races are a tiny sub-group of the marathoners.

He feels like these '100 mile' runners/walkers are people who sacrifice their family life to get the training done. I don't have a good answer for that statement, except for the fact that he spends a lot of time with his friends, and my children are grown and have their own lives. Walking long distance is my free time and I choose to spend my free time walking long distance.

Just Maryann

oh, and ................... 10

June 9, 2009

this is a little strange, but I think it is becoming a pattern. I get exhausted by the amount of training I am doing leading up to a big race. So, I take a week off. I don't know how smart it is to take a whole 7 days off during the taper for a 100 mile race... but I am trying to do the right thing and listen to the old bod'.

Hopefully it works as well as it did in January before Phoenix and last fall before the Bass Pro marathon and Sunmart. Just to let you all know I will be reporting a walk this evening after work. I don't know how far I will walk, or how fast I will go, but I will be back out there today. BTW......... 11

I do feel a lot better after my walk this evening. I went back to the park pond excavation site. Most of my walk tonight was on grass, except for 1.4 miles of dozer tracks and huge clay clumps. Oh, joy, I found an extension to the excavation site. When I uploaded the walk to Google Earth, the place I walked still looks heavily wooded on the satellite image, but all the trees are no more now. Kind of sad, but a great place to test out the knee and ankle strength. So far, so good.

6.28 miles; 1:26:38, average pace 13:47; average HR 73%, max HR 84%. The funny thing is that I walked the fastest two miles of the evening out there at the excavation site.

"It's better to be crazy than lazy!"
Maryann

ps. stayed up late last night working on drop bag and packing lists for the trip to Ohio. This is the first time I have flown to a race. I am going nuts over the tiniest detail. I have decided to bring only absolute essentials and pick up personal hygiene products when I get there.

One other thing, I got an email from the race message boards saying that the order of trail loops is changed this year (only one small change). Ok, after I printed out my pace chart and stuff last night. As I mentioned, I was up until midnight working on all this, now I have to redo part of it. I have to have my pace chart with exact times out of each aid station with me, and a copy in each drop bag just in case.

Taper of 2 Races

I need some help to keep me from really going off the deep end this week. I just realized there are only 9 days to the Desert Classic and 16 days to count down to 50 miles at Rocky Raccoon. The racewalking clinic is the filling... oh my goodness I am thinking about cake for some strange reason. A friend suggested Double Stuff Oreos…

I think Dave's clinic is weighing heavier on my mind than the two races. Last night I dreamed my 5k best dropped to 28 minutes flat. Now that is hilarious...

I was talking to my mom on the phone this evening about our driving trip to Phoenix next week. For some reason I had it in my head that we were leaving on Wednesday. I was getting my bills together so that I could pay them before I leave. I found the paperwork for the hotel reservations in El Paso. Turns out we are leaving on Tuesday. OOPS… Taper madness, anyone???

At least I kept my promise to self today. I did my strength training again, working upper body, lower body and core! I am so proud of myself... That makes twice this week. Patting self on back right now, while eating yogurt with slightly thawed frozen berries....