Countdown to Boston

Today there are only 12 days until the Boston Marathon! The hard part of training is over; it's Taper Time! I haven't had much opportunity to race lately, but last weekend Scott was off work so I ran the Upton 15K. I've run this race before (in 2012 and 2007), but this year's strategy was a lot different. I have always had some specific pace in mind, but because I am not as fit and my racing know-how is rusty, I went with the listen-to-my-body approach. I picked up the pace when I felt good, slowed down when I didn't feel good, and ignored my watch the whole time. I saw the mile markers and pushed a button on my watch to mark the time, but made a conscious effort to not look at my mile splits until afterward.

I ran better than expected: sub-7-minute pace for 9+ miles, finishing third among the women. I won't be running that pace, but I think I'm going to use this strategy for the first half of the marathon. Speaking of which, it's nice to stress about the race itself now and not as much the logistics. I emailed the marathon organizers about my addiction to breastfeeding and they're accommodating my request to bring a pump. Oliver will still be a total grouch on Marathon Monday, but maybe that will motivate me to go a little faster during the last half of the marathon.