In Between Day

This is the day after a run, but before the big run. It's a funny day in my head. (Funny, peculiar, not funny, haha.) Once yesterday's run was done, I got a whole day to appreciate the fact that there's no run today. But once it's today, I start to anticipate tomorrow's run. I start to get nervy. I'm coming to realize that I'm totally crap at living in the moment. So today's task is to try to just enjoy a day of rest, and only think about tomorrow's fourteen miles (FOURTEEN MILES!!!) when I'm getting my shit together for the morning. I will make up my sports drink and get a few gels together.

I'm going to try tomorrow's run without the audio book, to see if I can get more into the flow of running for the sake of running. My training book says the best way to do that is to get fully immersed in just the running. Think of breathing, foot strike, arms pumping, posture. Go into a sort of altered state of consciousness. Interesting. In my case, I also have to think of not scrunching up my toes. I find I do it automatically after a couple of miles, and then I'm more likely to get blisters and my toes hurt. With the new shoes, there's plenty of room, so no need for that, but I have to consciously unscrunch.

One of my biggest worries is needing to stop half way through the run for a pooh. It won't be such an issue on the marathon day, as there are loads of toilet stops, but that's not the case on the Bangor ring road, or the coastal path to Holywood! And the less said about my one stop on an overpass, one summer morning a couple of years ago, mid 10k run, the better! I'm half thinking of running the whole darn fourteen miles around the town and the park, just so I can be near my own loo! Boring? Yes. But comforting to my hyper wee brain. And I'm trying to get into an altered state, so my surroundings really shouldn't matter.

Yesterday I did four miles. It was really mild in comparison to some mornings, and I wore just a long sleeved top, no base layer or jacket. I was fairly comfortable throughout, and realized at about four km that I was on to beat my current best time. So for the last couple of km I deliberately tried to up my pace a bit, or at least not let it slip. And I did my fasted 5k time and fasted mile pace. Well chuffed. I might not run fast on the Saturday run, but I am improving (slowly.) I may yet be competition for that old woman walking the three legged dog!

I am actually thinking that once I'm finished with the marathon, I will work on my five and ten k times. Once that is, I've collapsed and remained comatose for about a week. I shit you not. I have already booked the necessary time off work for said period of unconsciousness.

If nothing else, this running lark, and using the myfitnesspal app to track my food, has resulted thus far in a weight loss of nearly two stone in two months. Go me! I'd dearly love at least a stone more to vamoose before the big day. Then I could be back under 200lb again. That's just over fourteen stone. That's starting to sound just normally overweight (yeah, I know it's still obese, but it sounds less than that, even on my wee five foot two personage.) I'll be "normal" yet!

Quick update: My knees feel great today. I can't believe how not-sore my knees are! Just right for me to do fourteen miles on in the morning, and wreck them all over again :-)  I love K T tape.