Veteran's Marathon: October recap, and the final countdown!

Is that song stuck in your head now, too? :)

It seems like I finally figured out how to get all my long runs done- schedule 3 races in a row! While I would never advise this exact "training plan," I sit here feeling strong and marathon ready (let's hope I still say that in 10 days).

October was a good running month. With 2 weeks of reverse taper after the AF marathon, it started out slow, but the weekends have all been stellar:

October 5- Cole Porter 15K- new PR 1:20:40
October 12- Highway Half Marathon- new PR 1:57:04
October 19- St. Pat's 6 hour run- new distance record 27.5 miles in 5:45

Running my first ultra with no taper and doing as well as I did makes me PR hungry again. I'm also shocked how little soreness I had the day after the 6 hour run. I managed to keep all my miles under 10:30 (on trails, too) for the first half of St. Pat's, and some were under 10 minutes. It all makes me wonder how the chips will fall after a solid taper.

I barely ran the week after St. Pat's, mostly because we put our house up for sale and the whole cleaning/organizing/showing process has been a wee bit chaotic. It also caused my back to seize for three days- and I only got it to let go after using the kitchen counter edge to dig in for some myofascial release. Hey, whatever works!

This week has brought about more consistent running, all nice and easy. Sunday's run with these two

which seems to have helped ease their stress over the whole house-selling process, Tuesday's run with the group on base, followed by tomorrow's Halloween 5k on base where some of us are dressing up as our coach!!

And then there's this:

My current cross stitch project. Also known as how I keep the taper crazies at bay. Keeping my fingers busy helps me keep from getting stressed out.

It's hard to believe that this will be marathon #4. Harder still that once it's completed, I'll qualify for marathon maniacs, thanks to that last minute ultra! It just goes to show that when someone tells me I can't, I go out of my way to prove just how much I CAN. Not only have I become the long-distance runner many doctors said I'd never be, but I've completed enough marathons in a short enough time frame to join the Marathon Maniac Asylum! 

My whole point, in fact my whole lifestyle is geared around this: only you know your own limitations. Never let someone else dictate the way you live and celebrate your own life.

A phrase my fitness classes often hear from me puts it even simpler: 

Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you are right.

Choose your own destiny, my friends! I can't wait to run and have fun during marathon #4! It's going to be the best birthday party ever!!!