Ape-ril

[marathondan]

Week 15 of 18

A workmanlike 20 miler completed last night on road. It was a pleasant, starlit night - no gloves required, even with a finish after 11pm. Time was 4 minutes slower than two weeks ago, but I guess you can't read too much into that. Audio was the now-familiar combo of marathontalk followed by Danny Baker. As last time, the sausage sandwich game came to a close with about 5 miles to go, but then he started an interview with Chris Waddle which was, while perhaps not compelling, good enough ear candy to keep me off the party tunes until the last moments. With around a mile to go, a full moon rose gracefully above the suburban roofline, and I just managed to get under 9 minute miling for the last quarter mile.

So, that's it folks. Taper time is here already. I think workmanlike sums up the campaign well; it's really felt like a job to be done, and in most cases I've managed to book the hours and get my time card stamped. There's been the odd spiritual moment, which may or may not have involved Cher and / or Huey Lewis, there has been mud, occasionally I've been in the mud, there have been surreal early starts and aerobic threshold work before I've had breakfast, there have been dull plods, there has been a groove worn even deeper in the perimeter of the field, and there have been a few plunges into woodland in the dead of night. 

Now the final stretch - sewing that costume, networking with sponsors, maybe even watching what I eat, then starting to think about race day logistics.

Can't wait.