I've been remiss in posting the last few weeks. After my 20-miler, my running taper kind of snowballed into a taper in all parts of my life, and at the bottom of the barrel was blogging.
In short, I was not a taper-hater, but really enjoyed putting in fewer miles. Even though it meant, oddly, that my shinjury was hurting more. My health insurance denied me any more physical therapy 3 weeks before the marathon. Granted, it's really hard to prove medical necessity when you are running 20-milers, but it still sucked. I went for a couple of out-of-pocket visits anyway, just for the peace of mind. (And because my PT is the best EVER.)
In the last weeks of my training program I became better friends with a group of girls and despite my complaints about the program, I wouldn't trade that running camaraderie for anything! (Okay, maybe a sub-3:00 marathon...) I also need to give a HUGE shout out to my Outward Bound running teammate and fund-raising partner, Jaimie. She is one the funniest people I've ever met and it has been a pleasure to make a new friend in her. All these gals really made training fun, and it was great to hang out at the events leading up to the marathon.
Okay, so the marathon. After all the fireworks and pasta parties, the day finally came where I had to wake up and run 26.2 miles.
