We are all tapering over here...

Is one of the symptoms of tapering being a little absentminded? If so, then we have a slew of it over here...whether it is due to tapering or not.

Exhibit 1 - Alice doesn't know what day it is...

It was the third time I'd realized it too. I'd realize it was Tuesday and not Monday, then I'd forget, then I'd make some plan for what I thought would be the next day...or two days away...then tune back into the standard time continuum and realize that it was, in fact, still TUESDAY and not MONDAY and I'd just made plans for THAT AFTERNOON or THE NEXT MORNING! GAH!

Exhibit 2 - Elsie is going to crawl a 1/2 marathon

Yep...that 10:01:51 is Elsie's 1/2 marathon predicted time...She thought she was filling in her birthday. We think she'll beat her predicted time. (Truth be told, she did this months ago, but just realized it this week).

Exhibit 3 - Betty doesn't know her gender

After my constant haranguing and reminding, Betty finally registered for the SF 1/2 Marathon yesterday...as a "Male" ordering a "Women's" T-Shirt...It is San Francisco, so perhaps this happens regularly.*

So...Taper week is in full force. I went to the SDTC final workout last night, we ran a 400, an 800s and then were supposed to do a mile at our "race pace" to see how easy it would be. I failed miserably on this account. My race goal is to maintain an 11:04 pace, which would give me a 2:25 finish (and a PR!). I think this is entirely doable and maybe even (in a perfect world) I could speed up in the last three miles and come in somewhere under 2:25. However, last night, my slowest mile was 10:30ish, and the other two (including the 'effing 1/2 mile warmup) were around 10:00...which would be fine if I were only running three miles, but I am not. I will be running 13.1 and I  know I cannot keep that pace for 13, it would be foolish of me to try. Truth is, I was TRYING to slow down...just couldn't sustain it.

Now on race day, starting the race slowly won't be a problem. With 40,000 runners, it'll be slow for the first two or even three miles. In fact, it will probably be pretty slow until we get on the 163 (the freeway), but this will also be my biggest challenge. I'll be about 5 miles into the race by then, and I'll have been going pretty slow due to the crowds, and I'll be likely to be feeling so spry that I'll decide to speed up...I need to fight this urge because I know 10 minute miles with 8 to go...again, not a good thing if I'm to finish strong.

Yes, I am in full taper-fret mode about this. Can you tell? To a certain extent, I wish I were still teaching because I'd have something other than THE RACE ON SUNDAY to focus on, not that I don't have other work to focus on, because I do, but I can't really focus on it because all of my energy is focused on THE RACE ON SUNDAY.

Geez...it's only a 1/2 marathon girl**. Get a hold of yourself.

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* props to me and my mad Photoshop skilz for blocking out private info and inserting pseudonyms...


** Speaking of 1/2 Marathons, I registered both myself and Walter for the SDTCs 1/2 Mad summer 1/2 marathon training program. That guy is gonna run a 1/2 mary with me whether he wants to or not! Maybe I'll even be able to convince him to write a guest blog. He's actually very funny!