You are supposed to enjoy the easy runs.

I have been told by coaches and also read in many places that when you hit the Taper part of the Marathon training schedule that you are suppose to do easy – enjoyable runs.  The weekly mileage totals and also the long runs all decrease in order to give your body some rest.  This whole concept still boggles my mind but since this is only my second Marathon then you follow the expert’s advice. 

 

So last Saturday I set out to run 15 easy miles at our popular training park.  The temperature was warm, lots of sunshine (remember sunscreen next time), and tons of people out also at the park.   The breathing felt easier due to the warmer temperature and with lots of other people out also at the park that made it much easier to run.  Well this was not a formal training run so I started out on my own, too fast as always.  You learn to appreciate starting out with a group or a running partner that keeps a slow starting pace at this moment.  Slow down!  Slow down!  I kept telling myself.  Nice and easy pace.  After about 3 miles I had slowed myself down to a nice pace and felt good but the bad habit of checking the Garmin too much had started up again.  What pace are we at now?  How far?  So the enjoyment then turns into analyzing time, pace and distance.  So by intervention from above or a poorly charged battery the Garmin locked up at exactly 8 miles.   It would not turn off and none of the buttons would respond. Then main thoughts that I should of been concentrating on, entered my mind.  Enjoy the run.  Look at the beautiful surroundings and have fun!  So the rest of the run was that way, easy and relaxed.  The fact of knowing the distances pretty well at the park allowed me to still complete the 15 miles I planed on doing.  Once again I reminded myself that you can have a good run without a watch, or Garmin – simply enjoy it.

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