Peak Week for the Pasadena Marathon

Although the Santa Barbara Half Marathon is two weeks away, my sights are set on the full race in Pasadena. So this weekend's workout as meant to be the final "long run" for preparation before tapering (or in my case, semi-tapering) kicks in.

After the 13.1 + 7 miles from last Sunday, I took it very easy this week. Only 11 miles of running and 11 of biking for the entire 5 work days. It was needed, too, since Monday-Wednesday at work was sort of insanely busy.

So this morning I woke up with the goal of completing my 20 mile peak run. And after 3:24:19, I finished it!! Miles 1 through 17.5 were fine. My legs showed some occassional tiredness. I got thirstier after multiple hours of chugging along the street. But I kept up a decent 9:20/mile pace and 15:00/mile walk breaks.

And then mile 17.5 came around and I unraveled like an old sweater.

My ribs hurt. My feet hurt. My back did not want to change angles. It was all I could do to trudge along, one hurt foot in front of the other. After winding through beautiful neighborhood streets, I found my apartment building at exactly 20.00 miles on my watch.

I left the apartment at around 9:30am. The clock read 1:08pm when I returned. I could not fathom having been running that long (even though I done it before). My math just wasn't adding up.

But nevertheless, I completed the run. Spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Headed to SCOOPS Ice Cream (712 N. Heliotrope Ave, Los Angeles CA) to get a treat and meet up with my teammate, Maia, to plan a fundrasier there. All worked out and we have the first ever TASTE FOR THE TEAM ice cream tasting event on Dec 6th from 3-6pm. If you are in the Los Angeles area I can provide more info.

Then, to the grocery store. Despite the miles, I wasn't hungry. Debated sushi, fish, eggplant, and came up with tofu for dinner. Eh.

Tomorrow I will be joining my boss and coworkers for the annual LA AIDS Walk down in West Hollywood. The 6.2 mile walk will be a good chance to catch up with friends who I haven't seen around the office lately.

More restng until Monday morning, when the taper week begins!