Running To The Wall: The Final Countdown

It's here. The end. This is the time known as "the taper" - when you ease up on your training to let your body get good and relaxed and recharged before the big race. I tend to take tapering to a whole new level: I've only run a handful of times in the last month and have spent more hours fighting a sinus infection than I have out on the road. Typical.

The only consolation is that I'm not setting out to crush any world records, or even set a personal record for that matter. I'm sticking with my usual goal: finish with a smile, ready for a beer. Actually, this race will fulfill all sorts of superlatives like "biggest change in elevation," "most expensive," "most polluted course," and quite possibly (at this point in my running career) "most stunning scenery." And there's the familiar assumption that come race day I'll be so amped up on excitement and nerves that my body will just do it's own thing and my mind will be the one to keep it all going at mile 11 and 12 when I'm certain my legs will fall off or my lungs will collapse.

So the schedule for this week is pretty easy: massage on Monday, easy 3 miles on Tuesday and Wednesday, big pasta dinner on Thursday, easy 3 miles with lots of stretching on Friday morning, train ride Friday afternoon, and 3:30 departure from the hotel on Saturday morning. Somehow I convinced C. to let me drag him along as my Number 1 Fan, but fortunately for him the spectator bus doesn't have to leave until 6:00 race morning.

I'm going to assume this will be my last Great Wall race for a while, so rather than aim for a personal best I plan to maximize the experience and capture as many awe-inspiring moments as possible. That's fancy talk for "I plan to run slowly." For now I will leave you with a few images from my recent runs in Shanghai...