Tapering; Rest 2

Friday: Another day of rest, though the body itched to run when I looked out the window. It was cloudy all day and cool, slightly chilly - close to perfect running conditions for me. But I stuck to the plan and didn't run, saving the legs for tomorrow's short pre-race run. The right heel was aching again, intermittently, but I am not overly concerned about it, as the marathon socks cushion the feet so well, worth every penny indeed. Focused on keeping hydrated, as usual, though balancing that with salty crackers, to keep the blood pressure normal. Giving in to curiosity, I rang the doctor's for my blood test results but the line was constantly engaged, so I am still in the dark about them, though I am pretty optimistic they will be fine. Water and salt are helping me get to normal. Also, having found SiS a great help, I went to Asda today and bought 2 sachets of SiS GO. The GO is designed to help athletes during hot weather and that is more suited to my needs than the PSP22 (for general situations). The sachets are a lemon and lime flavour, I have been reassured that the flavour is just a hint and I hope so, as I do not normally like that flavour. Still, I plan to try it tomorrow then again for race day. Runners World had an interesting article abut running in hot weather, how it affects runners and how to deal with it. It was interesting though not overly revealing. I signed up to Runners World a few days ago, subscribing to the 3 copies for £3 offer; I often get articles forwarded to me by my friend and it made real sense to just subscribe to it. As well as the GO sachets, I bought a cheap digital watch to time me for the race and general running. It doesn't have a lap timing facility (it was that cheap indeed) but I am more concerned that it times me. The mobile, though equipped with an easy to use stopwatch and lap time facility, let me down at GER, or perhaps I inadvertently pressed a button as I ran. The watch timer is easy to use and the buttons won't be accidentally pressed by me during a run. I am quite pleased with it, it's a lilac and grey colour, a little bulky, but should do the job, and for very little money. Just a couple of days to go now, I think I have everything I need for the race, just need to make sure I don't have hairy legs (lol) but apart from that, I am fairly organised. I will be attaching an ad for www.uknetnames.com to the back of my race top for my friend, hopefully it will attract a lot of attention for the site. The weather will determine whether I add sunglasses/a hat to my race attire. I did enjoy wearing my big sunglasses for my last run, and I wear a hat for every run anyway, but I shall see how the weather fares. Feeling nervous, not overly so yet, but a little apprehensive. The other half seems quite reluctant to make GMR due to the early (?) time and car parking problems, so I am preparing myself for dealing with the day on my own, as I depended a lot on my younger brother at GER. For instance, I wasn't worried about my bag since he looked after it for me plus took pics. So, I need to make sure I am familiar with the baggage areas and ask a stranger, who I think least looks like likely to run off with my mobile, to take some pics of me pre and post race. I am quite familiar with the city centre anyway, so the nerves are so-so, I do feel excited about the whole day. I won't be getting a lift so need to check bus timetables in advance; it will be nice to see other runners on their way to the race. I am strangely more excited about this race than GER; I think I was quite down just prior to GER on learning about my friend's accident and it wasn't possible to look forward to racing so much on hearing such news, though I did go on to enjoy most of the day. Knowing my friend is recovering well is hugely reassuring and I am getting a lot of support for my race. This was the first race I signed up for, it feels quite final doing this, as it marks the end of 4 and a half months of training, everything was leading up to this. I just hope I can do myself justice. But I am relieved I have already made plans beyond this. It will be a wonderful feeling to reach my birthday having done a hat-trick of races; I will then look forward to organising a programme which will lead me to a half marathon in September. Knowing that I have a goal beyond my current one, will reduce anti-climactic feelings on Sunday night. It is a strange feeling, to go into my bedroom and see my 2 race medals draped across the mirror; I look forward to adding a 3rd to my collection :o)