Misery

If I was good at doing things on the computer, I could make a little chart showing how I was feeling during our 20-mile training run today.  Since I can't, imagine a line that stays level for a long time (2 hours), then goes down a little, a little more, a little more, stops for a while to dry heave a little, and then finishes down around the bottom.  During the first half, accompanied by our awesome neighbor Andy (running much below his normal pace in order to keep us company), I felt pretty good.  In fact, I felt pretty cool - like a real athlete.  After a mid-point water break, however, things started feeling not so good.  Things like my hip joints, butt, legs and stomach.  At the 15 mile point, nausea set in and stayed with me for the long haul. As it turns out, it's really uncomfortable to run while nauseated.
Anyway, we did finish, and if we walked a little, well, I am still counting it.  We moved our bodies over a 20 mile path.  We never hailed down a passing car for a lift, we never banged on the front door of the houses we were passing to beg for help, and I only gave in to defeating negativism half a dozen times.  So overall, a major success.
One funny thing about living in a town the size of Winston-Salem is how many people will tell you that they were driving and saw you running.  And several times people have told me that they saw me running at one point and I looked pretty good, but when they were on their way home from the movies or whatever a few hours later and saw me again, I didn't look so good.  Someone Matt works with told him that he looked terrible running.  And today during the course of the four hours I was running, I definitely saw several cars more than one time.  And the drivers did not look so good the second time I saw them.
Happily, today was our last big run before the marathon.  Over the next few weeks, we'll taper down.  The idea behind the taper is that your body is so primed for running, that when you deprive it of that it will just want more of it, so when it comes time for the marathon, you just burst out of the gate.  I'm not so sure about that, but I certainly won't mind the part where I don't make myself do something to the point of vomiting for a few weeks.
Cheers!
Claire

p.s.  While we've been training, we've also had some other exciting developments here at the Calvin-Giegengack home.  Being the consummate blogger that I am, I've got a second blog going to keep friends and family up to date on our pending adoption.  Check it out at the link on the right - "and then there were five ...."