boom

I can't believe it thunderstormed for like 4 hours straight last night. crazy. Since the weather conditions weren't of the highest quality, I ended up doing my 5 yesterday on the treadmill. It was incredibly boring. Some days I don't mind treadmill running - in fact, there are days when I prefer it - but yesterday wasn't one of them.

Tapering, for anyone who doesn't know, is a period of time before the race where runs are at the same intensity but are generally quite a bit shorter. It's basically a period of time for your body to rest up and for your muscles to repair themselves. They say it can take your body up to two weeks for your muscles to fully repair themselves after a long run (like a 20 miler). Thus, taper periods in marathon training schedules are usually 2-3 weeks long, so that you'll be at optimal performance on race day. It really is amazing how much you can take off your overall time just as the result of tapering. The bad part about tapering is that you usually are used to running much more, so you tend to have a lot of unused energy. If you look at the runners world marathon forum or talk to a group of runners during taper time, you'll often find them all going stir-crazy and bouncing off the walls. I know what you're thinking: this is not unusual for Mouse at any given time.

I got an email yesterday from my friend Katy, who is running Chicago with me. It said how these last few weeks we are particularly susceptible to sickness because our immune systems are weakened. Guess what? Theroommate, for one of the first times since I've lived with her, is sick! Oh no! That's really weird. I'll just have to make sure I stay away from her as much as possible!