Grandma's Marathon Training

It's getting down to the wire in running land, and I am ready to taper...more than ready! Sunday I ran a 16 miler and although it took over an hour of coaxing myself out of the door, the run itself went great. I took Monday off, and today I went out with my hubby and dog for 6 miles.

I told my hubby that my legs felt like bricks, but by about 3 miles in, they felt much better and I could feel myself picking up the pace. What was so nice about our run this morning was that instead of shoving the headphones on and drowning out any outside noise with music (which trust me I usually prefer), we just talked to each other. I didn't really see the hubby yesterday because of work and then he went to a baseball game, so the run gave us a chance to catch up.

I have two weeks left until taper starts. My weekday runs and one of my weekend runs will remain at 6 miles. I have an 18 miler and a 20 miler left for long runs. Praise the Lord, I think I'm going to make it! After that, I will reduce my week day runs for the first week to 5 miles and run a 12 miler on the weekend. The next Saturday will be a 7 miler and only a couple of runs that week before the race.

I am so excited to head up to Duluth for Grandma's marathon weekend. I have not been to Duluth in about seven years, and I haven't been up for Grandma's weekend in about 12 years. The hubby and I will leave the kiddos with his parents, and my parents are coming along. We have these little cabins rented which sit right next to lake Superior. They are nothing fancy, the man on the phone told me, but I told him as long as there was a hot shower and a bed, we would be good! Heck, the cabins even come with little kitchens, so I don't think we will really be roughing it!

Here is a link to the North Shore Cottages where we are staying: http://www.northshorecottages.com/index.html

If I just keep reading running blogs, searching for a great deal on one last pair of shoes, and looking at the race website, I think I can make it!

How do you stay motivated on those last few tough/peak weeks of training?