As I mark the final 4 days preparing for the Boston Marathon on Monday, I was reminded tonight of a phrase I haven't heard or even thought of since my Army days in the 80's at Field Station Berlin in S/S Papa. The phrase is "being short" I'm not sure from where the slang originated, but it was used to denote someone who was on a final countdown to either a permanent change of station (duty assignment) or leaving the service entirely (ETS). But there was also a bit of a "lame duck" connotation to the phrase as it also implied that there was little left to do except move on as all the real work was done and in the figurative rear view mirror. While I still need to show up and actually run the marathon on Monday morning, the phrase still kind of works from the standpoint of all the work of substance required to get to the starting line in Hopkinton is in the bag.
To make the point, this afternoon's workout was a paltry 3 miles after yesterday's full day of rest (welcome to a marathon taper!). My coach's plan had me running a very easy 3 miles, but I decided to spice things up a bit and do a 1/2 mile warm-up then run some 5K pace mile intervals just to burn off some steam (rolled the miles in 7:13 and 6:54 while resting a couple of minutes in between) before jogging a half mile home. With the tendon injury I've been nursing, these are by far the fastest 2 miles I've run since early February -- and it felt good to air things out a bit. The tendon was achy but at this point I'll be so amped up Monday morning at the start of the race the tendon will be an after-thought.
This afternoon's run was also pleasant from a weather perspective. Going all the way back to my last 6 weeks of training for the December Honolulu Marathon and nearly through the complete Boston Marathon training cycle -- it's been just miserable to run outside in Seattle with 44" of rain falling from October through March here (it's an all-time record for rain fall going back to the 1880's). That I ran in shorts and a t-shirt and it was 55 degrees and dry just felt great.
On a final note, I'm sure I'm the same as everyone else running on Monday and watching the weather forecast for Boston on Monday. It looks like mostly perfect weather for a marathon; although, the temperature is now creeping up into the mid-60's which is a little warm for my liking -- but still comfortable given start-time temps will likely be in the low 50's.
Tomorrow is packing day.
To make the point, this afternoon's workout was a paltry 3 miles after yesterday's full day of rest (welcome to a marathon taper!). My coach's plan had me running a very easy 3 miles, but I decided to spice things up a bit and do a 1/2 mile warm-up then run some 5K pace mile intervals just to burn off some steam (rolled the miles in 7:13 and 6:54 while resting a couple of minutes in between) before jogging a half mile home. With the tendon injury I've been nursing, these are by far the fastest 2 miles I've run since early February -- and it felt good to air things out a bit. The tendon was achy but at this point I'll be so amped up Monday morning at the start of the race the tendon will be an after-thought.
This afternoon's run was also pleasant from a weather perspective. Going all the way back to my last 6 weeks of training for the December Honolulu Marathon and nearly through the complete Boston Marathon training cycle -- it's been just miserable to run outside in Seattle with 44" of rain falling from October through March here (it's an all-time record for rain fall going back to the 1880's). That I ran in shorts and a t-shirt and it was 55 degrees and dry just felt great.
On a final note, I'm sure I'm the same as everyone else running on Monday and watching the weather forecast for Boston on Monday. It looks like mostly perfect weather for a marathon; although, the temperature is now creeping up into the mid-60's which is a little warm for my liking -- but still comfortable given start-time temps will likely be in the low 50's.
Tomorrow is packing day.
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