I...HATE...TAPERS

I think TAPER must stand for

Take
Away
Pleasurable
Endorphin
Rush

At least that's what it feels like to me...but then you know the only cure is

Tackle
Another
Painful
Endurance
Race

An....tici.....pation

It's taper time...again...gee...when has this happened before? I must be stuck in a time warp...

In predictable fashion, today I am fucking tired, even though I slept 10 1/2 hours last night. I think it may be the heat...

I did my last long ride on Saturday--90 miles--and it was fucking hot, but I was happy I was able to run afterwards. My right foot still ain't right (but that doesn't make it left, either), but I think I'll get by. I'm playing around with different shoes, doing trigger point work, icing, blah, blah, blah.

When I ran yesterday, it was...OMG...HOT! I ran up on a guy and a girl (obviously not a couple judging from their age difference) that I figured were training for a marathon. There were a lot of people at Argonne running, walking, biking, you name it--it always makes me happy to be with so many others getting out and getting it done. I struck up a conversation with the couple, as they seemed to be holding a good pace for me. They were on their second loop of 2 for a total of 19 miles, and they are training for the Milwaukee marathon. They asked me what I was training for, and I just said, "an Ironman." Of course, the questions followed about which one, and the young girl, upon hearing it was going to be self-supported, asked, "Why would you do that?" I smiled, waited for a moment, and finally replied, "Because after you do it anything else you do feels easy." But I saw her roll her eyes. How would she get it? Milwaukee would be her first marathon. Most people I tell about NothingMan think it's cool or at least don't look at me like I'm some deranged weirdo. This girl, well, I'm pretty sure she figured me for nutso.

After running, I went with my brother Mike to the cemetery where my Mom is buried, and we took some of Dad's ashes along for the ride. I had a little talk with Mom, we sprinkled some of Dad around the area, Mike and I sat in the shade and talked about how we live our lives and anything else we felt like talking about, and then when I got home, I decided I needed to ride CF up to the top of this landfill that is near where Mike lives.

Typically when I feel like riding really easy on CF, I ride to Greene Valley and try and get lost on the trails. Last fall, the week before my Dad was hospitalized, I discovered the road to the top and went almost all the way. Yesterday, I decided going all the way up would just be an exclamation point on the day of visiting all the dead people.

It turns out it's only 1 mile up to the top, and it took me about 7 minutes. I would go faster, except most of the road is really chunky gravel and not at all easy to ride on. But the view from the top was spectacular--well, for the area, anyway. I could see all the water towers of the various suburbs, including my own, and the Sears Tower plus other parts of the Chicago skyline. On the way down, I saw a few brave souls running up the road, and of course, it's now on my to do list.

Today I did a bunch of crap, including a very short run, because I just felt too tired to run (19 hours of training last week; so I've put together 5 solid 19 to 21 hour weeks since IMLP), but I managed to finally motivate and get a strength workout done, too.

One day into a taper and I'm already feeling, well, off. But I'm usually a little off, so no worries there. My main concern is the weather right now, right on target for 2 weeks out from a (not a) race. Usually these hot spells don't last too long, so I'm going to hope for 70's or even 60's in a few weeks. But it could be anything in 2 weeks. I'm a little concerned about my right foot, but I'm hoping it will come around as I'll be resting like crazy.

But I am really looking forward to NothingMan in a well, nothing sort of way. It is going to happen, that's a given, it's going to be a long day filled with all sorts of surprises and interesting thoughts, I'm sure. I can't wait!