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September is here and it is not hot any more.  In fact, I kind of wished I had had gloves this morning in the nippy 52 degrees.  The weather is the most interesting part of this report because I didn't feel like going fast today and I didn't want to push it.  I've been limping around due to Saturday's knee injury and I think it is changing my stride (for the worse) when I run.  Since I'm officially in my "taper", there is no reason to push it.  Training is over.  I just need to be careful not to get further injured and not to lose fitness.

 Oh, yes 7.78 miles took me 1:13:23, which is 9:26/mi with an average heart rate of 138bpm.

The taper continues.  I took yesterday off to give my knee more recovery time.  My "long" run tomorrow will only be about 12 miles.  It is good September running weather at 55 degrees.  5.51 miles took me 48:30 with an average pace of 8:48/mile.  My pace increased as I went along.  Got up to a 6:15 pace for my strides at the end.

I've avoided running for the past week due to my knee injury.  The Doctor said it is probably a bruised or a torn miniscus (sp?)  He said if I can deal with the pain, I should be able to run the marathon next Saturday without risking further injury.  Usually, it hurts more to walk than to run.  In fact, it didn't hurt at all for the first 2 or 3 miles this morning.  But then it started hurting and got progressively worse.  I took a shortcut home for a very slow and easy run at a 10:20 pace.  I find it harder to go fast now and my goal for the marathon is simply to finish.  It will still be a PR because it will be my first.  But, I won't really be satisfied.  Maybe the Utah Valley marathon in the spring will be my shine time.

Oh yes, I got a bike this week so that I have an aerobic alternative when I can't run.

This has been the taper of all tapers.  But, I did run today to be sure I still knew how.  I didn't push it at 9:33/mile.  If I run into terrible pain, it will be during the marathon, not before.  The good news is that I had no problems at all with my left knee, but I did feel a shooting pain through my right knee, which quickly went away.

 This increases my hopes and confidence for Saturday.  Some of you will receive text messages when I cross miles 13, 20, and 26.2.  It's not that I will have my cell phone.  Rather, it is a service provided by the TOU marathon, using the chip timer in my shoe.

This was the best marathon I have ever run!  OK, it was the only.  My goal time was 4:15, so I was pretty close.  Strategy was to start out slow and pass everyone at the end.  Reality was that I had too much fun at the start and at the end everyone was passing me.  Average pace for the first half was 8:40.  Average pace for the next 7 was 9:40.  Average pace for the last 6.2 was 11:51.  I "hit the wall" at mile 19 and really struggled after that.

Nevertheless, it was an exhilerating and emotional experience to cross the finish line at last.

Fortunately, my knee didn't bother me much.  It was my thighs the give out and I need to learn how to walk down stairs again.

The course was all down hill, losing 1000 feet in elevation for the first 17 miles and then averaging flat after that, with lots of ups and downs.

My 23 year old son, Brian also ran his first marathon today and did remarkably well, with a time of 3:29:26.  That was 20 minutes better than his goal.  Unlike me, he had a lot left in him at the end, passing many without letting any pass him for the last seven miles.

It feels good to finally achieve marathon status!

Well, now that my goal of running a marathon has been achieved, I find myself less satisfied with the result.  Surely I could have run a little faster at the end.  Truth is I'm not done yet.  I need to break 4 hours and then I need to qualify for Boston.

I did my first run since the marathon this morning, thinking I might be mostly recovered.  Truth is I'm pretty sore and more so after this morning's run than yesterday.  But I'm not concerned.  Soon, I'll be back to full strength and ready for more serious training to beat the 4 hour threshold and beyond.

This morning's run was 4.6 miles in 45:04, or 9:44/mile.  Pretty slow, but a start.

I re-did Wednesday's run and tried to run fast, partly due to lack of time.  4.63 miles took me 41:36, which is 8:59/mile.  I felt like I was really moving, but my stride was still quite a bit shorter than it used to be.  A mile took me 1680 steps, vs. what used to be 1520 steps.  You can start laughing now, but I do count my strides in groups of 4.  It usually helps me to go faster, but not today.

Next week, I'll run a lot more, but I still seem to be recovering from the marathon, although I only feel it after my runs.

4.65 miles in 42:05 or 9:02 per mile.  No big deal, but just part of slowly ramping back up after the marathon.  I don't feel hardly any ill effects from the marathon any more.  I need to come up with a new training plan, but I know it includes more than I'm doing now.

As I left this morning, I noticed Jupiter, near the horizon in the west.  Then I searched for the Big dipper and the north star, both very dim by comparison.  I have been observing the Orion constellation for months, which is much easier to find than the big dipper, but, I finally  know what it is.

 Well that explains it.  My star gazing is slowing me down.