Tapering

I spent Sunday morning in Taverny watching 3 teams from the club battle it out in an Ekiden.

I decided that since it was the last Sunday before the marathon that I wouldn't do a long run but take it easy and encourage the teams invloved in the regional Ekiden this weekend. I wasn't disappointed.

I love the atmosphere in these races. It's the team spirit and the encouraging of every runner in the team to do their best that is really gratifying. You have the time to see what is going on in the race (especially if you're not running...) and to boost everyone with a few words of encouragement or in my case to run alongside everyone for a few minutes to tell them how the others are doing and to try and encourage them in their race.

The end result was that the seniors beat the veterans in a hard fought race, with only the final runner really making the difference. Both the women and the verterans beat the qualifying times to take part in the French nationals, so with a bit of luck, I'll get to take part again.

Good runs from Nico (37:36) over 10k and Nick (18:58) and Gérald (18:02) over 5k. Good performance all around and I was proud to be there with my team-mates.

An easy run this morning with 11.5 km around the park in Maisons Laffitte with 3 kms run at marathon pace off 1' rest. I was happy to run at marathon pace, finding the right speed without too many difficulties this morning. Feels about right but still plenty of doubts as to how the hell I'm to keep this up over 42km. We'll see how it goes.

11.5km all up in 53:00 or an average of 4:36.