Taper Begins. . .NOW!

This Sunday I ran my 12 miles before taper.  It was incredibly humid, like running though a jungle, but Heather and I got through it just fine.  We even kicked it up a notch in the last mile, mostly because I was so sick of running by then, and I just wanted to be done.

There were plenty of geese on the Towpath, and they were defending their goslings, so they were mean and scary.  I hate when geese hiss at you.  Freaking snakes with wings.

This is EXACTLY how those geese looked.

We saw plenty of turtles sunning themselves on logs in the river:

Look!  It's the Towpath Turtles! (See what I did there?)

I've been feeling a little soreness around the knees lately, so I pulled out the foam roller and HOLY GOD ALMIGHTY did that hurt like the bejesus!  I felt so much better afterward, though. I've got to bring that foam roller back into play more often.

This starts two weeks of tapering for me.  For those of you who don't know what tapering is, basically you cut down on your mileage in order to rest and recover before a race.  Most runners don't handle tapering very well; they feel antsy, and they want to hurt people.  Not me, though.  I'm cool as a cucumber. Really.  I'll be fine.  I will.

Wanna find out if the taper works out for me?  Join me in running (or volunteering) at the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon in two weeks. I'd love to see you there!  I promise I won't bite.  Much.

Until then, run happy, Peeps!

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Look out for the Geese-Wrangler!

Geese are nasty and mean.  Swans are nastier; they are essentially snakes with wings. . . but I digress.

Today Heather and I put in five miles before the Turtle run of an additional five miles.  We were on the Bike and Hike trail, and if we weren't both so miserable in the first couple of miles, it would have been beautiful.

We knew the geese were coming when we had to start dodging their "little gifts" on the trail.  Sure enough, ahead of us was a gang, about twenty of them, waiting to jack us up.

This is EXACTLY how the geese looked.  I'm not joking.

I used my superior intellect and innate connection with Nature and started clapping my hands to get them off the path. . . and it worked!  "You can always be a geese-herder if the teaching thing doesn't pan out," said Heather.  I have to say, I took a certain amount of pride in the fact that with my quick wits I averted a violent end for the both of us.
Next week, I tackle swans.  Maybe.