Running, and More Running, Recap for September

Well the hardest part of my marathon training is done.  I ran 161 miles in September.  On most days, my legs were full of fatigue, and just getting off the floor after 30 minutes of story time at the library offered new challenges.  But I had a great month.  I did all of my long runs on the Blue Ridge parkway, so I could be fully immersed in hill training.  I started at the break of dawn.

 Later in the month, I was lucky enough to see cooler morning temperatures, which certainly made the long runs go by more smoothly.  After my longest run, of 20 miles, I treated myself that evening to a Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale.  I rarely drink, but I do enjoy a pumpkin beer each autumn to celebrate the arrival of Fall, and I earned this one!

 Besides, it gives me an opportunity to use our cute little English bull dog beer opener. 

Now that the hard part is done, I am tapering.  This means I'm significantly cutting back on mileage so my legs will be rested for my marathon.  Sometimes tapering involves a lot of mental anguish.  Feelings of insecurity can set in - doubts that I've trained hard enough, doubts that I can do another marathon.  It's very common, too, for runners to feel the niggles of an injury that wasn't there before.  Yes, tapering does strange things to the runner's mind.  Mostly, though, I'm just very excited to be registered for marathon #9.  Hopefully I'll have good weather and good health on the day of the race, and all those rumored hills will be just hills and not mountains! 

Do you have anything exciting scheduled for October, readers?