"It's ONLY 12 miles," said the girl with the taper.

HAHA!  Yeah. I am easily amused. Especially by my own humor.

If you'd have asked me 3 years ago (when I was just dabbling in running) if I'd ever run a marathon, I'd have probably laughed in your face and then looked at you like you had 2 heads...No WAY would I have thought I could 26 miles...
HA! Take THAT 3-years-ago-didnt-know-how-awesome-running-is, Anna!!!

I'm almost done with my mountain
When I first looked at my marathon training plan, I saw a mountain. Here I was down in flat, prairie land and looming in front of me was Mt. Marathon-training. I was super excited to tackle it but had no clue what it (or I) would be like once I got to its peak. 

To me, the 20 mile run was the peak and I survived it! (and liked it in some weird, twisted, masochistic way)

Now I feel like I'm coming down the other side of the mountain, which the locals like to call Journey of Taper. Its filled with all sorts of fun places like 'IsThatAnInjury-ville', 'What-if-I-get-sick-town', and 'GO-AWAY-LITTLE-NIGGLE-village'.

Once I get to the bottom then its unknown territory.

THE MARATHON  *cue the dramatic music*

I'm sure there will be many peaks and valleys in that unchartered territory and I'm sure I'll tell you ALLL about them on May 5th =)

Anyway, I never thought I'd be one to say 'I'm only doing 12 miles'. But it is my reality after doing TWENTY last weekend.
12 today felt GREAT!
I got a few twinges in my ankle, knee, left arch and the inside of my left foot but none if it lasted long.  Twinges seem to be a part of my life lately. Along with frozen water bottles and small rubber balls that I roll with the bottom of my foot.
We runners are a strange lot.

I didn't fuel on todays run but I took a Gu with me just incase. I made sure to drink some water during my run even though I wasn't thirsty and chowed my peanut M&M's and pretzels after I was done. It really is the best tasting thing ever while I'm stretching. 



Here are some pictures from today's run:

*Starting out at 7 a.m.  Beautiful sky but COLD. We hit a record low of 23* this morning!

*This little dude (dude-ette?) was a cutie. And brave.

*Here are his shy buddies...

*He went back to make sure they were ok. What a guy.

*I loved the reflection of the sky in the lake

*Mile 8 and feeling great!

*My 2nd daughter who is super into birds and super into photography was GREEN with envy when I showed her this picture. A gorgeous hawk (although it could be a falcon, I don't know how to tell the difference). 

My over all pace was 9:56 which felt great as I don't think I've run a sub 10 pace on a long run since I did that 13.1 mile run with my hubs which you can read about HERE.  But you know what's funny. As I got done today I was thinking to myself How in the WORLD did I average 9:12 on a 13.1 mi run just a month ago?!' That run felt comfortably hard. Today's run just felt HARD.

I was very pleased with how well my arches, foot bones and calves felt during, and after, this run.  Like I said, some twinges during, but they all worked themselves out like good little joints and tendons should.  ::pats legs lovingly::





Do you see cool wild life on your runs?
--the coolest thing lately are the cranes at Lake Z. I would LOVE to see an owl!

What is your favorite kind of bird?
--overall: Bird of Paradise, I think....out of the birds we see around here: either male Cardinals or Black-capped chickadees