recovery, taper, 100 miles, and nerves

What I neglected to mention about the Tulsa Run last month is just how sore I was after pushing myself that hard.

To put it simply I hurt, I hobbled for about 3 days before it faded. Since then I have been taking it pretty easy on my body in preparation for this Sundays run.  Plus we have entered the taper portion of our training. Ask any runner. They will tell you tapering sucks. It makes you stir crazy. Many runners end up blowing their taper, largely because it feels so weird to no increase mileage.

Saturday after a easy 4 mile run I headed up old route 66 to catch a glimpse of some of my more enthusiastic crazy running friends running the Mother Road 100.3 Ultra Marathon. For those of you unfamiliar with the odd specimen of the Ultra allow me to enlighten you. Ultra runs consist of anything greater than a marathon (26.2 miles) (this is a particular variety of kool-aid I refuse to drink) I met a few in Vanita and headed on down to Foyil where I camped out at the TATUR Aid Station 77.5 miles into the race. Before my 5 hour stay ended I had passed out coffee, cocoa, soup, and other food like items to various runners, learned a few new knitting tricks and stitches, and roasted marshmallows. Just as it was time for me to make the drive home the front runners of the Runners World Family came into view. It was Coach Kathy and Stormy with TATUR Dave pacing them.  With a quick hug they blew thru the station faster than any other runner thus far (I suspect to prevent getting caught in conversation). I missed seeing the remainder of the group but it was a fun evening that I hope we can do again. I think in the future I will likely pace a Ultra, Crew, or Man a Aid station. I have nothing but respect for my ultra buddies, just not my thing. TZ has a really good recap over on his blog.

Next up, the Route 66 half marathon this Sunday. Please consider coming out and cheering if you are in the area. I need all the support I can get. I will be running in my Runners World Shirt and my awesome running skirt (link coming soon!!!) I am super nervous / excited and likely will not sleep AT ALL the night before but it should be fun!!!!