The last note went out at 8:39 Saturday night.
I told the Chicago runners in Prospect Park Track Club's Marathon Training Group that I hoped they were getting ready for bed. I was proud of the work they had put in. The race was the next morning. There was nothing left to squeeze into the training plan.
Chicago was personal for me. It had been my first marathon when I was 17. I bandited it, which I admitted was a no-no. I went back in 2018 for my first open marathon in ten years and ran 2:56:31.
I wanted the group to enjoy it. I told them to trust the training and the process they had gone through. Best of luck, although they would not need it.
One runner wrote back that her glute felt wonky. My answer was short: “Almost no one toes the marathon line feeling perfect. You got this.”
My own training did not feel perfect either.
I had spent six weeks in a boot after tearing the plantar plate and ligaments in my foot. I kept most of my cardio by using the pool and cycling. The basic pool workout was a 500-yard warmup, ten 100-yard repeats on the 1:55 mark, then a 500-yard cooldown. I added another 30 to 60 minutes on the bike most days.
Two days after the Chicago email, I sent that routine to another runner who was dealing with foot problems. I also wrote to a coach about my own next target.
I still wanted to run 2:45 at the California International Marathon. That was the outside hope. Anything under three hours would be decent, all things considered.
I had asked for the 2:45 plan months earlier, before the hundred-miler and the boot. Now I wanted someone to help me put the training back together and, just as important, remind me to rest or cross-train when I started doing too much.
The following week, most of the group was tapering for New York while other runners kept training for Philadelphia and CIM. I sent the workouts and one very clear warning: nobody should try to squeeze in one more 18-miler seven days before a marathon.
If anyone kept doubting the taper, I offered to send them a meme every day for the rest of the week.