Tapering?

Another thing I don't know. I think I talked in the last installment about how the list of things I don't know is so long and yet is growing so rapidly. Tonight's "Thing I Don't Know" is what to do about this Sunday's race. When I started running, this race, the "DRC Half," became my first goal race. Now that I'm here, though, the race is essentially going to be just a "short week" of my training buildup to the marathon in December. I don't know how fast I can run it, and I don't know how fast I should try to run it.

My training schedule shows a long slow run this weekend. Technically, I should do a longer and slower run than I'll probably do (but shorter than last weekend's run). The truth is I don't think it really matters very much. If I were trying to beat some fast goal time in the marathon it would be more important. In the event, though, the only reason it matters is that I somehow have the sense that it should matter. I should be taking this seriously. It's a marathon, after all. Not only is it really hard to do, but it's somehow a sacred trust. I have to honor the race. That's a significant overstatement of how I really see it, but my heart leans in that direction. I don't want to go out there and "just finish." I've been saying ever since I started training to whomever would listen -- including myself -- that that was/is my goal: just finishing. When I finish, whatever my time is, I know I'll feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment. But if I don't have a reasonable time, I know there will be some element of disappointment mixed in.

What's a reasonable time? I haven't settled on that yet. When I first started, my goal really was "just finish." When I started getting a little more fit, I started thinking maybe I'd shoot for a sub-5 hour finish. But now that sounds really slow. Five hours is an 11:26 pace. The only way I could go that slowly is if I have a total meltdown and walk a significant portion of the race.
Even a 4:30 is a 10:17 pace. I've been running faster than that, and should be able to beat 4:30, assuming I learned a lesson from last Saturday's long slog and fuel appropriately during the race. Maybe a 4:20? I really don't know.

Some marathoners have told me about race-day adrenaline and running with 10,000 people, and how that will make me go faster. I can't really see that. Maybe it's true. But I don't see how that lasts for 26.2 miles. Maybe for a shorter race. But over a marathon, that stuff has got to wear off, and I'll be left with myself out there, alone in a crowd. For better or worse, I'll do whatever I do based on my fitness and my persistence. Not based on what others around me are doing.

(Tom Waits on Pandora. I'm not doing the bluegrass station tonight.... Tom Waits is an odd guy. I loved his part in Mystery Men. My favorite superhero is The Shoveler from Mystery Men. "He shovels better than anybody.")

But what about the ....

(ohmigosh -- last interruption -- Elvis Costello singing Almost Blue. Fabulous.)

.... half marathon this Sunday? By the way, Debbie Fetterman called me today. She wanted to check in before the Half. I don't know if she's wrting a follow-up or not. What will my time be? I have no idea. Theoretically, I could do a sub 2. Monday night I ran a loop -- about 9.3 miles -- at a 9:09 pace. That pace is exactly a 2 hour Half. And that was alone, after a full day at work, with no carbo-loading, and stopping at water fountains. Race day I'll be fresh and won't have to stop, because I'll be able to keep moving through water stations. So, theoretically again, I could go faster race day. Or at least not slower. But the truth is I just don't know how it will go. I think I'll look more toward maybe a 2:05 or even a 2:10. I shouldn't go that slow. But races like that are still a sort of mystery to me. What if I burn a lot of energy just on excitement? What about the huge crowd slowing me down? I just don't know.

One thing I do know is that if I don't get to bed I'll sleep through the race. (Isn't that the night of the time change?) (Remind me next time to tell you what I think is a weird mental thing related to joint and muscle pain while I'm running.) (Love Jimmy Buffett music -- Banana Republic is on now....)

Later...