*texassmith*

[runaways]

texassmith - How's the last bit of training going? Are you tapering yet? I can't believe we only have 2.5 weeks to go!

[texassmith]

Hi! Yep, I'm officially tapering. Thank God! I've resolved to never do a January marathon again (famous last words I'm sure, lol). Doing my longest runs smack in the middle of the holidays has been rough. I've had to work around the girls being out of school, people being sick (both myself and people who would normally watch the kids while I run), and just the general busy-ness of the season. We're moving to Austin this summer and the Austin Marathon is in February, so I may target that for 2015. I'm just freakin' terrified of the hills!

As far as this training cycle, I had to cut short my 17 and 18 milers because of IT band probs, which wad really frustrating and discouraging. Luckily I kicked ass on my 20 miler on Friday. I maintained the pace I wanted to the whole time, speeding up for the last few miles, and felt good overall. I definitely needed that mental boost. I'm not nearly as speedy as you are though. I can't believe your 22 mile pace! Badass, seriously. I'm struggling with figuring out how to pace myself for the race. I think I'm going with a tentative goal of 4:15ish, but I'll just see how I'm feeling over the next few weeks. I know I have sub-4:00 in me, but probably not for my first full. I just want to soak up the experience and not feel disappointed at the end if I didn't make my goal, ya know?

How are you feeling? I can't wait to see how you do. You're going to kill it!

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[runaways]

Yay! I'm glad your 20 miler went well - I bet you'll do better than you think. Although I do think it's hard to predict how your body will react to your first one, as I realized belatedly during my first one. But it sounds like you're well trained! And I agree about the hills in Austin - I've heard that the half isn't too bad but the full is kind of killer. I guess if you train on that it's not as bad though.

I'm actually feeling really zen about this one. I was super hyped up about Chicago, but at this point I feel like I've been through like 1.75 training cycles and I'm not sure what I could have done differently even if I'd wanted to. So I'm going to wait and see how it goes...although I'll probably start freaking out once the 10 day forecast hits!

We should do another Houston GTG before the race/before you move!

[runaways]

Oh also I just saw that they posted a picture of the medals on Facebook - I love them!

[texassmith]

I love the medals too! And I'm definitely up for another GTG and I'm sure the other Houston ladies are as well!

I'll definitely need to get used to the terrain in Austin. I maybe shouldn't try to conquer a marathon there for a couple years. I have a friend who did the half and said it was bad, which scares me. But it would feel so badass to do it!

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