October 5th - In the taper!

OK - I know I've been bad and haven't posted for a month. I honestly didn't think anyone was reading my blog, but was enlightened by Jaime H that people are reading it and that I do need to keep writing.

I have started my taper! In the past month I have done 2 20 mile training runs. My last one was a week ago (I ran it by myself and that was definitely harder than running with the group). So now I get to start cutting down my miles in order to help my body recharge before the race -- which is only about two weeks away! Tomorrow we'll be doing 14 miles and then Sunday I'll hopefully make it out to support some of the people I have been training with that are running the Twin Cities Marathon.

Also I got my bib number -- #5136...so clearly that is my new favorite number :-) I'm really starting to get anxious about the race and it feels weird cutting down my miles. My body has become a bit addicted to the running and feels odd when I take days off now. So I'm going to have to figure out what the heck I'm gonna do when winter comes...yay for thermal running tights?

On a more serious note - I have another person I am running for: Doug Harrington. This is the father of one of my best friends, Kayley. He passed away last Wednesday, Sept. 28th from lung cancer that had spread to his bones. I know that my race and fundraising is focused on blood cancers, but I think any progress we can make in fighting any form of cancer is a step in the right direction. Doug was honestly one of the most caring and good-hearted people I have met in my life. I can not imagine what his family is going through right now, and I only hope that the fundraising and run that I am about to do in some way will help prevent this kind of tragedy in the future. I will definitely be thinking of Doug during the tough miles of my race.