Race Week! Week 18 of 18

It's finally here!  Race week!  EEEEEKKKK! I haven't really had taper crazies, but I have had some injuries kind of show up.  Honestly, they were probably there the whole time and I was just ignoring them.  Unfortunately, my insurance barely covers chiropractics anymore, so I am trying to massage, ice, stretch, and do anything I can at home to avoid paying out of pocket, but it may come down to paying out of pocket.  Not only do I have my race this weekend, but I have three more pacing duties I need to get through!!!!!  While I think I can get through my marathon, I need to get these issues addressed.  I have poor gait, we have tried everything to change it and nothing has really changed, so this will be an ongoing issue for the rest of my running life that I will need to overcome with strength and cross training.

Okay just trying this out.  WOW!  This one is so good!  Going to get more if I can remember to grocery shop.

Monday:  Marathon Monday again.  Like Boston marathon Monday!!!!  Way to go Desi!  I couldn't see most of the race, as I didn't want to pay 50 bucks to stream it, but towards the end, I typed in Boston free in FB and low and behold, someone was live streaming the race from their TV.  I got to see the last 10K for both races and I was cheering and shouting in my lab! Post race and work, both of us went to sylvan, ate, and then totally came home and forgot about grocery shopping.  Whoops.  Glad we have a local grocery store for the essentials and we are stocked up on coffee and breakfast items, you know, the two most important things right?  I did finally try a Picky bar (see above picture).  It was amazing and I can't wait to buy more!!!!  Why haven't I tried these up until now?

Getting to pet our vet's clinic cat as a reward for being good at the dentist

Tuesday:  Speed work with friends.  Okay, I liked this speed work, mainly because it was short and sweet.  Warm up for one mile, 90 seconds hard, 2 minutes easy x 6 repeats, cool down till you hit 5 miles.  My foot felt fine during the run and not too bad post run, so I iced while I had my coffee and checked out FB and email.  Any time I am sitting down, I am going to be icing and rolling.

In other news, Andrew started coughing Monday night and just acting like he wasn't feeling great, but I kept thinking it was just allergies.  He wasn't running a fever until I was ready to head out to coach track club, and at that point it was super low grade.  I had already decided with that cough there was no way he could go to practice anyway, but i needed to coach no matter what.  I was really hoping I didn't' get this whatever it was.

my new fashion accessory 

Wednesday:  Woke up early just in case Andrew had miraculously gotten better.  He was still running a super low grade fever that was enough to make him feel like crap.  Rather than send him to school, I held him at home to rest and hopefully recover.  I also started popping Zicam like candy.  I was praying I would not come down with this mess too.  I can run with snot and coughing, but I don't usually want to run when I am running fever.

Zicam and Emergen C to the rescue!

Thursday:  Coach had wanted me to run Wednesday, but I woke up feeling run down and tired and since little man was also sick, I took a rest day.  We stayed in our PJs all day and were super lazy.  Coach had said I could take the rest of the week off if I need it, but mentally I needed to get one more run in before the race.  Mel and I headed out for a super easy 4 miles with the dogs.  Wow, the skunks are out in full force right now.  PHEW!!!!!  My foot felt fine during the whole run and afterwards, which gave me a ton of confidence that I am doing all the right things.

Friday:  Packet pick up! Not only did we get a nice soft race shirt, we got lularoe leggings!  BONUS!  The nerves kind of started really in earnest that night, mainly due to weather, so I took some melatonin and tried to get a good night's sleep. 

Saturday:  Race day!  Recap here!  Overall,  great race and great experience minus the constant rain.  We were lucky in that the temps stayed up and there was little to no wind.  The only issue I had was I had to keep my gloves on or else my hands got super cold but my gloves were drenched, which in itself isn't a great feeling.  The scenery was amazing and having stella there with me made it so special.  She smiled pretty much the whole race....till the after race pictures.  Go over to my recap and read more!

smiling in her sleep

Sunday:  Rest day!  Of course the Tulip Festival was in town, so resting was more like active resting. I pretty much laid on the couch after the hottest shower ever post getting back from the marathon, but I really needed just one more day.  Of course a very active 5 year old, a hubby that had to work, and bounce houses just right down the street dictated a big nope. 

Time for some time off.  I am not getting much thanks to my pacing duties, but my body and my mind need any rest I can give it.  Probably taking at least a week off of running period and then slowly going back to maybe 3 days a week for a few weeks to let my body rest and recover.  I have big plans for the summer and fall and those plans do NOT include injuries! 

Have a great week!!!!!