Run Till It Hurts

On Sunday I am voluntarily running 13 miles and I’m paying money to do it. Have I lost my ever lovin’ mind?

I’ve been training for the the past three months for this race. Part of the training includes something called the taper. This is the part of the training I’ve been looking forward to most. It’s the part where you start to rest your body and decrease your miles so that you are well rested for race day. Sounds great right? Lots of rest and way less running.  Nobody, and I mean no single person, told me how much the taper would suck. No one mentioned the anxiety attacks, the phantom pains, the heavy legs, the sluggish feeling, the carb cravings, and the absolute urge/need to run MORE that the taper involves.

Yeah you heard me right, I have been having anxiety attacks on a daily basis (I just had one while writing this and had to take a break to breath) for the past 7 days. I have hellish pains in my legs, feet, arms, back, you name it because my body is apparently healing from all the training I’ve been doing for the past months. I feel like a slug from the lack of activity and ass load of carbs I’ve been eating. And to top it all off I have an actual addiction to running now. My body physiologically depends on it. When I finish the “short” 3 mile runs I’ve been taking in the past week, I am actually pissed off  and cranky when I have to stop.

So I guess in the whole scheme  of things the taper is really good, because not matter how intimidated I am by how big this race is , I just want to freakin’ run.