Running With Jack

Yesterday’s weather was the exact opposite of Saturday’s: sunny, warm (16C/61F), no wind, blue skies. My wife went next door to spend a couple hours with a sick neighbor, so I decided to take a walk. I headed out over the same route that I ran on Saturday morning, but this time instead of being pelted with rain and hail I was flooded with sunshine. It was an unseasonably warm day and people were out in droves, walking, running, and cycling. I power-walked for about two hours, covering somewhere between 13-13.5K (8+ miles), good for around a 9:00/K (14:30/M) pace. It was a good workout and not quite to hard on the legs as running the same. More importantly it helped burn a few of the calories that I seemed to have accumulated during the last week or two of tapering.

The walk really helped clear some of the baggage that has been eating away at the back of my mind. For example, I have been kind of stressed out about my marathon next Sunday. Although I have tried to be relaxed about the whole thing, I have actually been more nervous about the race than I care to admit. My training has not been as aggressive as it was last year and I’ve been concerned that I will pay dearly for it on race day. Anyway I’ve come to terms with myself and am going to just go and enjoy the race and not be too concerned with when I finish. My main concentration will be to try to maintain a consistent pace throughout the race, something that I have not achieved with my first four marathons.