24.7 and Unplanned Margaritas

Ahh, yes. That wonderful satisfied feeling of the last long run before the taper. Unlike some folks I love taper and this one comes perfectly timed for the Thanksgiving holiday. Although that also means I have to be a bit careful about my eating habits over the holiday, but you can be sure I will not be suffering.


Yesterday I did 24.7 miles. Don't ask about the distance, my Garmin died and I had to guess the rest and an extra .7 really didn't hurt. It was way better than my last long run of 22 miles and that's partially because I had not run in the three days prior due to work conflicts, with one of those down days due to some unplanned margaritas the night before at the Mexican place with my iron pouring peeps.


There is a lot of literature out there that talks about how we run too much when training. You can spend days reading pro and con information to this theory and come up completely brain dead with all the information. Due to the aforementioned unplanned rest days I got to check this out and I was happy at how well my long run went. I know that because of my busy work schedule this year I am going into this December 3rd marathon somewhat under-trained but I will go at it 100% like I do everything else.


Last weekend I ran a new local 5K (adding some extra miles onto the front and back end for an extra workout) and amazingly won my age group. Ha ha, just luck I tell you, the fast people were all out doing other things! But non-the-less bling is bling and I love medals. Maybe it's because I am still new at this, but I am a collector of "stuff" and love to get mementos for events I enter. For some reason shirts and water bottles don't mean anything, but medals are totally worht it!

My blue ribbon and gold medal from the Thames Elementary 5K Race. A great course through some real pretty neighborhoods.

I had a great but really hard 11 mile trail run the next day, that 5K was coming back to haunt me, but I pushed through and it was so amazing in the forest that day the hurt really didn't matter.


I will be spending Thanksgiving with some friends (my adopted Mississippi family) at a beautiful cattle plantation ("ranch" for the rest of you) up near Vicksburg. These are artists and writers and I'll have two nights of pure joy, food, wine, and excellent conversation in a location that would make the editors of Better Homes and Gardens jealous. I am looking forward to this in a huge way. I hope everyone has the most amazing Thanksgiving and let your running selves have a break so you can indulge in the best holiday ever! Give thanks, because you can always run to your hearts content in the days following!


Cheers!