This is it – the last week of marathon training. I did in fact skip week 26 last week. I think I got one short run in. But with the holidays and going back and forth to the vet all the time with Merlin, I just didn’t have the time. I still got some walking in at least – on Thursday night we went to Longwood Gardens to see the Christmas display and walked all around there.
Week 27 involved 2 shorter runs and a 7 mile run.
On Tuesday I got a shorter run in. Not 30 minutes but I did 20. It wasn’t a good run, but it was a necessary run. Merlin had been in the hospital since Friday, and they kept thinking he would get better and he wasn’t. Finally Tuesday morning they called and said that they thought there was a chance it could be cancer. This news was a bit overwhelming for me – just a couple of days earlier they thought he just ate something he wasn’t supposed, then it was triaditis which they thought they could clear up, now there was potential cancer. I tried to get through work but I couldn’t stop crying on and off so co-workers convinced me to go home. My anxiety was so ridiculously high that I needed a way to get it out, and running helped. I only did 20 minutes because I had pretty much eaten nothing that day. I was not in good condition to run but it needed to happen, and it did help.
Thursday I stopped at the gym after work and did my 30 minutes on the treadmill. And when I got home Merlin was home! Jason had been able to pick him up that afternoon. So he’s home at least, even though he’s got a feeding tube in and needs a bunch of feedings and meds per day. At least he’s home.
On Saturday I went to the gym again for my 7 mile long run. I got it done even though it wasn’t the best run. It’s also a little bit of a pain because my gym’s treadmills only let you do 60 minutes, so I had to restart the treadmill again. But I got to use the massage bed after which was really nice. And crazy to think that my next long run will be the full marathon in exactly one week!
Are you planning to exercise in the new year?
The treadmills at my gym also stop at 60 minutes and it drives me NUTS. What is the POINT of that? If I want to stop my run I’ll do it myself, thank you very much!
Right? I’m guessing the idea is that if it’s really crowded you’re “forced” to get off at 60 minutes, but would anyone know if you just restarted it anyway? Plus it would be nice if they could override that somehow, so that when it’s a day where there are 50 treadmills and 5 people there I don’t have to worry about it.
Can’t wait to read your race recap! I’m planning to run 17 races this year. Due to knee arthritis I’m going to have to back off on distance and do mostly 5Ks, but it’ll give me something to focus on and hopefully improve my times on the shorter distance and get this knee healthy!
Wow, 17 races is great! I’m planning a blog post probably sometime next week with my race list for 2017. I think I’ve got about 5 or 6 I’m signed up for or at least planning to sign up for. It’s always good to have a race to work toward!