Taper Week

Marathon training has come to an end and it is now taper week. I always feel strange the week before a marathon - like I should be doing more. My nerves always affect my stomach and it currently feels like butterflies are fluttering around my insides.   So far, my week is looking like this:

• Saturday – 1 hour (Very Hilly) run
• Sunday – Off Day
• Monday – 4 mile run
• Tuesday – walk/run with Oscar. Maybe a ½ mile’s worth. 3 push-ups. Yes, I said 3. I intended to do more and just didn’t have it in me. Plus, it is taper week. :)
• Plan/Wednesday – 2-3 mile EASY jog.
• Plan/Thurday – Long Walk w/ Oscar
• Plan/Friday – OFF (Bruce Springsteen concert in Baltimore!)
• Plan/Saturday – OFF
• Plan/Sunday – Philadelphia Marathon!!

During our run this past Saturday, my sister was asking about our goals for the marathon.

That got me to start thinking, what are my goals? Earlier this year, I had proclaimed that I was not running a marathon this year.  After running two last year and having a sore hamstring, I was ready for a year off from training.

The problem was that my boyfriend had gotten the marathon bug. Once he decided he was going to run one, I didn’t want to miss out on all the fun. Plus, running the Philadelphia Marathon would add a new city to my repertoire.

Back to goals. I am going to set two goals, 1 stretch and 1 realistic. 

• Stretch Goal: Finish in the 4:30s. This could happen if all the stars aligned. Perfect weather, I felt incredible and strong, right amount of fuel, good course.
• Realistic Goal: Finish in the 4:40s. This is where I realistically think we will be based on all of our training runs. Granted, we have run some hilly training runs and Philly is supposed to be a flatter course, so you never know.

For both of these we need to stay consistent throughout the entire run. I think we will start out running in the high 9 min miles. Then, we will slip to a more even 10 min mile pace. The goal is to hold that for as long as we can, leaving us some time padding towards the last miles of the race when things get harder.

*Updated* If anyone is interested in tracking me through the race – my BIB # is 6815 (Lauren Brown) and they are going to have Runner Tracking available. I realize I just gave out my last name, but since it is pretty common, I think I am safe.  (and hopefully scary people dont read this blog.)  I will also be updating twitter throughout the weekend, so follow me for those updates.

Friday night, we have tickets to see BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN in Baltimore and I am so freakin excited. Then, our plan is to drive up to Philadelphia Saturday afternoon to get settled into our hotel and then head over to the race expo/packet pick-up. We want to have a good pasta dinner somewhere.

Anyone from Philadelphia know a great Italian place we should make reservations?