Tapering!

I am very excited: marathon day is only16 days away, which is hard to believe. And I am officially at the "tapering" stage of training. That is, running less and resting up to toe the line healthy and energetic on race day. Running has taken up a huge chunk of my time the last several weeks, so I am looking forward to catching up on some things during these "found" hours. Also, I'm tired, so the rest part sounds great. My last 20 mile run was last weekend (in the most horrendous weather, I was afraid my fingers were going to get frostbite, and I am pretty sure I was at the beginning stages of hypothermia by the time it was done), and this weekend's "long run" is only 13 miles.

With race day coming up quickly, the topic of carb-loading has been on my mind. Of course, that sort of sounds like every day for me. ;) Regardless, I don't think I have a solid plan for what I will eat the day or two leading up, and the morning of the race. So I have been thinking about that.

Also, I have been trying to figure out what's next. It feels like everything I have been striving for culminates in this day, Nov. 20. For awhile "after" has been a very vague thought, I have been so focused on being ready for this one event. But now I think I need to start working on a plan for "after" so I don't revert to couch potato status. I've worked way too hard to lose all my running fitness, and I don't want to completely backslide. I need a new goal to keep me on target after the marathon.

I've also been adding things to a "bucket list". It's pretty fun to come across these grand ideas that would be awesome to do "someday" and have a list to put them on. I tend to forget things, so this will help me remember all those really cool things that I would like to do. I am trying to figure out how to share the "bucket list" widget on here, so keep an eye out.

Related to the carb-loading topic, I'm thinking pasta with swiss chard for dinner. Both because I have a long run tomorrow, and I really like pasta. And the swiss chard from our garden was looking a little wilted from the cold weather, so DH picked most of it for us yesterday and there is a bunch in the fridge. If I come up with something awesome I will be sure to share it.