I got a really inspiring email from Caroline - a "go get 'em girl" type of message that has me completely excited now. This morning I ran 5 easy km on the treadmill at the YMCA. While I was running I lifted up my arm and a muscle in my back went into spasm. It hurts when I take deep breaths. Hopefully, this will go away by Sunday. Needless to say, I don't plan on doing anymore runs because I don't want anything else to go wrong. Our group leader sent out some bad news this morning telling us that Jim won't be running with us on Sunday. He broke two ribs in a fall while working on his boat this past weekend! Talk about bad luck. I feel really badly for him. He was one of our best runners and was planning on qualifying for Boston at the Ottawa race. He was also very encouraging and gave good advice to the not-so-good runners (that would be me). Of course, now I'm paranoid about injury too - so today was my last run before the marathon. I'll do some swimming, and maybe some cycling, but that's it. Here I go.

I'm getting very nervous now. It's now 6 days away. I was feeling like I'm not prepared, but then I ran 16km on Saturday and that helped because it was really easy (I think I could have done the marathon that day). I'm focusing on carbo-loading - but have to watch that I don't just choose breads and pastas and starches. I bought a pineapple, oranges, apples and strawberries to tempt me to the healthy carbs. I also started packing my race bag (petroleum jelly, cliff shots, granola bars, vector bars, sunscreen...) I guess you could say I'm getting excited too! Hopefully there won't be tornadoes next weekend like there was this past weekend.

I actually chose not to run yesterday (first missed Tuesday). I cycled instead. I think this is what is expected during the taper period. My body is feeling tired. I think I'm coming to the end of my training rope, so I'm going to listen to my body and take it easy. One more long run to go and that's the marathon. This Saturday it's 16km - which won't seem like much at all. I do feel a little like I'm getting out of shape, but I think that's because my body is feeling overworked - so the rest should actually revive me.

[Easy run on a wooded path]
We've begun the taper full force and boy, does that feel good. For some reason, it makes me feel a little nervous, but I think that's normal. Most people worry about getting out of shape during the taper period, but I'm going by the book since it's worked for me so far.

I'm staying in Guelph this weekend, and Sunday's run is a nice easy 23k. I'm so glad the weather has warmed up, although, running in heat is not easy - in fact, it is more stressing on the body. May 30th in Ottawa could be hot or cool, I probably won't know until the day before :)

[32 km in 3hrs 25min]
I completed the furthest distance of our training program and live to talk about it. It turned out that a few people from our group wanted to do the 32k today, so that made it really nice because they actually did it slow and ran with me today. Near the end Jennifer & Mike pulled away, but then they had 2 glasses of champagne waiting for Ken & me when we hobbled down the sidewalk to the store. It was a nice feeling finishing this run because it's all downhill from here as we begin to taper down our mileage. Hard to believe the race is 3 weekends away now. I'm going to treat myself to a massage this week for completing the 32k. I'm pretty exhausted right now and I'm not recovering as well as I did last week and my legs are very restless and achy. Ibuprofen is doing it's work on me right now and I feel very comfortable and sleepy now. I think I'm not recovering as well because we ran out in the country and I had nowhere to fill up my water jug half way through. I seem to need more water than most (I'm a sweater). The run itself was gorgeous. Quiet country roads and we were lucky enough to see 2 young eagles!

The people I ran with today discussed the possibility of going to Mississauga next weekend to cheer on some members of our clinic who have selected to run this marathon. We might hop in the race to run our 21km and then head to the finish line to cheer on the others. I told them I will go, but I guess I'll know by Thursday what the plan is.

I had an ultrasound done on my knee today. I didn't really feel it was necessary, but since my doctor had asked me to do it, I did. The radiologists couldn't see any tears in the pictures, but they told me that I have a Baker's cyst at the back of my knee. I researched this on the internet and says that these can often be caused by "meniscal cartilage tears" in the knee. That doesen't sound good...but I'll wait to hear what my doctor has to say (if anything) when she sees the pictures.

Our group leader is also running 32km this weekend, so it looks like I'll have someone to run with. I'm not sure this is a good thing, considering how emotional I was from the pain of the 29km run...then again, maybe that wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been alone. Either way, I know I'll be thinking about my Grandpa a lot on this run who passed away yesterday, so I'm not going to worry if I get emotional - pain won't be the only reason for that.

[26km on Saturday]
I did another long run on Saturday. My knee feels a little strange...not sore, though. I'm scheduled to have an ultrasound for it on Wednesday. I still have the crunching feeling when I touch the side of the knee and bend it, so that seems like it might be cartilage damage. As long as there is no pain...

Next weekend is going to be tough. It's my first 32k distance and only 10k off the marathon distance. This will be the furthest I have gone ever. I told Steve I'm going to need his support on this run, so I think I'll ask him to meet me halfway on his bike to finish the last 10-15km with me. Only 28 days away!