Well, the hay's in the barn, as they say in Lower Arkansas. The last long run before Memphis, which went great for 16 miles, then... Now 27 days to sharpen, taper and worry. First, about yesterday. For some reason, the hotel workout room was closed. Tried twice. Could have run outside, but didn't know the area or have my Garmin. So I decided to skip the little 4.5 mile jog I'd planned and just take my kid to his tour of the UA engineering program. It was fun watching him. He's excited and apprehensive at the same time. I think it's sinking in just how much college is going to be outside his little comfort zone. Also had a little surprise for him: I'd almost forgotten that my dad was named to the Arkansas Academy of Mechanical Engineers, almost a hall of fame for MEs in the state. Less than 100 members from what I could see, and he's one. His picture is on the wall along with all the other academy members at the ME building, and I got to show it to Tyler. So we got home around 7:45 p.m., and I hadn't slept well for two straight nights, so I started a load of running clothes in the washer, stuck them in the dryer when they finished and went to bed. Alarm goes off at 4:50, and I've got a splitting headache. So I reset the alarm, rolled over and went back to sleep for a half-hour, hoping the HA would subside. It did, a little, and I got up, did my usual waffle pre-run breakfast, and headed downtown to run. Got on the road a little before 6:30 and just decided I'd run how my body told me to run, not looking at the Garmin or anything, just run. The headache was gone by now. And that went real well until the 16-mile mark, which I reached at probably 9:20 pace, when I stopped at my stash of Gatorade to refuel and stretch. The stretching didn't help, and from then on, I was in pretty much pain -- hip flexors, IT band, ankles, butt, knees, you name it, they all alternated. I probably ran 21.5 plus of the total, which came out to 22.4 on the Garmin. Then I walked around downtown for 20 minutes eating and drinking, drove home, drank some more, did an ice bath and then sat down to do this blog. So the taper begins tomorrow, although I'll still total 70-plus this week due to long runs on Sunday and Saturday. Back off from there, and try not to get too paranoid about the twinges and aches. Now, I'm going to bed. | 