Trust the Taper

Trust the taper? Seriously? This is such a hard concept to grasp...

Today I had my longest run of this training season. 20 long and cold miles. And yet, when I finished, even though I was definitely aching, I knew I could do more. I was surprised that thought even went through my mind. When I trained for the Little Rock Marathon and then for St Jude, both times by the time I reached 20 miles I was done with running. I was burned out and not enjoying it anymore, and swearing I would never do another full marathon again. But here I am ready for marathon #3 and knowing I'll do another full sometime in the future.

It's a great feeling knowing I'm going into my taper weeks not running on empty. On the other hand, I have three weeks until the Walt Disney World Marathon. How do I go from 20 miles today, only run fewer miles each week for the next three weeks, and then up and run 26.2 miles?? It completely baffles me!

I am confident in my training. I think I trained better this time than I have the other two times. I may even be over trained. Not to say that every run has been good. I've definitely had my share of frustrating or hard runs. For the most part though, this process has been pretty fun. I have so many friends and family members that have been incredibly encouraging. After Scott and I completed Soaring Wings Half Marathon in October, his training was done, but he was still willing to run a portion of my long run, or ride his bike for the whole distance. And I have a wonderfully amazing friend who did much of my training with me as well. I am so blessed!

I'm super anxious for the race. In the, crazy excited, can't believe it's so soon, but not soon enough, kind of way. I just have to trust the taper. :)