Stop! Taper Time!

I probably just severely dated myself with the blog title above! For those of you who grew up in the 80s and loved MC Hammer (ain't no shame), you'll get the reference...

Well, ladies and gentlemen... it's officially the week before the Nike marathon. Tapering of running and working out usually begins the week before for half-marathoners, and two weeks before for full marathoners. I am happy to begin this stretch of tapering because my body has been working hard and is ready for a rest.

Today's long run was in San Francisco. It rained like cats and dogs yesterday so I knew that SF would be beautiful today. It's always amazingly sunny the day after a huge rain in SF for some reason. The sun was shining and the air was crisp and clean in the morning. Half-marathoners had to run only 6 miles today, which would be no sweat for me. I wasn't nervous about the run at all and after Woodside two weekends ago, I know I can run anything as long as I stay mentally strong.

The run was beautiful- I went down Sunset Blvd. and under the Lincoln overpass. I think turned left down MLK, Jr. Drive and headed out to the beach at Great Highway. Then I turned back up Great Highway and ran back to the starting point at the Lake Merced parking lot. I arrive a couple of minutes late so I missed my wave and ran pretty much by myself the entire way. People were out enjoying the sun: walking their dogs, pushing strollers and taking their little kids to the Zoo, bicycling, and surfing. It was awesome to see so many people out and about!

I hadn't run Sunset Blvd. or Great Highway in a very long time so the entire run was very nostalgic. I remember running out at Great Highway in high school and walking along Sunset Blvd. all those years I made my own way home from junior high and high school. I remember how lonely the stretch of Sunset Blvd. seemed then, as I often walked by myself back home.

My ankle is getting better. I talked to Coach Chris and Dan about it and they gave me some good advise. I think I also figured out a more comfortable way for me to run today too. I find that if I sway my hips more and move my legs as if they are pendulums, anchored into my hips, my strides are longer and stronger. I don't know if this is necessarily true or if I was just enjoying my run today, but it seemed to work. I'm going to have to keep track of this theory.

I neglected to mention that D gave me a third gen iPod Nano for my birthday. I was super excited because I was thinking about getting one because it's so small and light, I can strap in onto my arm during a run. He got me a red one too- which is awesome because the red ones are a part of the Product Red (tm) efforts to help end AIDS in Africa.

I've been shuffling my songs as I did before and I noticed something curious. Both my Nano and my older MP3 player consistently shuffles in "Mary Jane" by Rick James. Without fail, every time I run, it comes on! It's so funny how that works. This morning, my Nano shuffled out some of these songs:

The Fabulous Ones (Blackalicious)
I Melt With You (Jason Mraz)
Santeria (Sublime)
Try! (John Mayer)
Brokenhearted (Brandy)
I Turn To You (Melanie C)
Warning Sign (Coldplay)
Wrong (Everything But the Girl)
They Say (Common)
Chorus (Erasure)
and of course.... Mary Jane (Rick James)

7 days and counting!