12 more months

Almost there, Julie! I'm rooting for some cloud cover myself, because a tailwind kind of sucks when it's warm outside -- you lose the cooling power of wind in your face. You've got this!

Thanks! I am ready, I think....69 more hrs but who is counting.   Fun times at the pumpkin patch today, easy 2 mile run with nothing hurting.  I guess the 50K gives me plenty of time to think about what to do in the spring, right?

Jocelyn's giving the "I don't want to smile" look and Noah is eating a flower but hey, I got 4 of us in a pic, right? 

Yum, a flower!

What a beautiful family!  You are one lucky Mom!!  And flowers are fuel, right?

Tom H wrote:What a beautiful family!  You are one lucky Mom!!  And flowers are fuel, right?

And organic, to boot!

Tom H wrote:What a beautiful family!  You are one lucky Mom!!  And flowers are fuel, right?

Thanks Tom! We love them very much!! Yes, flowers are fuel, and fairly expensive when we are buying all the herbal tea we drink, right? And yes, organic, indeed.

My cold is really wiping me out, hope to get some sleep tonight and beat this. At least I'm getting sick now and not Sat, right? Still have a couple of days to recover so not panicking yet. Also having a hard time figuring out who is picking up the packets (Jen or my husband and Jen is so busy she is not very easy to get in contact with/takes forever to answer emails!!!!).

The cold is just the body enforcing a solid taper.  Stay hydrated, chicken soup is always good and trust your training.  You will rock it!

How is the cold?

Take lots of vitamin C and drink lots of fluids!  It should be gone by the weekend.  And what a beautiful photo.

Wow! They're getting so big! Nice photo.

Time to start sucking down the Airborne, and lots of other fluids. You'll be through the worst of it come race day.

Are you going to share your race plan with us?

I feel really wiped out and sneezy today. Unfortunately my boys are also not feeling the best so they're extra fussy and my husband is of course at work (he had offered to stay home if I really needed him but also has a critical project at work so I didn't really think we were that bad off). Anyway, I have chicken soup in the crock pot and we're eating blueberries. 

Mark - race plan? I'm supposed to have a plan? Get there and run 31 miles? Was there supposed to be more to it? I have to get down town to where they are busing people out to the start so we're all going down there so I can nurse the boys one last time then bring a few muffins for the trip. The eating is really confusing me because of the 11:00 start I don't want to eat anything too heavy before the race but I do wonder about getting hungry with being out there all day. The aid stations all have bananas, oranges and then at mile 21 they have a ton of food including chicken broth, water melon slices. I can't eat nuts or gluten which eliminates a lot but there are quite a few things I can eat. I have my s-caps and water bottle and will carry some raisins but I don't think I'll need them with all the aid stations. I plan to meet my husband and kids after mile 21 (the cut-off) to nurse the babies and get anything I need, another muffin, whatever. I was going to run with Jen but really plan to just start out with her because Omaha didn't go so well a few weeks ago. She has a lot of personal stuff going on, which is fine and understandable but I really just want to run my own race. My parents hope to see me at some point, too, hope they can. Am I missing something? I have my shoes and all my running clothes are washed, Jen's picking up the packets tomorrow so I can pack my drop bag, although I don't know what I need, maybe just my body glide and sunscreen because it's not much further than a marathon and I never have needed a drop bag for a marathon. Did you ask just to freak out my taper madness?? 

You sound pretty organized to me...I think Mark was just trying to stir things up and make things interesting on the blog.

Hope you...and the twins get to feeling better before Saturday.

Good luck and more importantly...have fun.

Oh...great looking family...no wonder you're so proud of them!

Thanks Nancy! Of course I've been so distracted by sneezing I forgot all about checking the weather!! 61 and sunny still and 37 is Friday's low. I have to feel better so I can run this because this is great weather for Oct.

Julie wrote:Thanks Nancy! Of course I've been so distracted by sneezing I forgot all about checking the weather!! 61 and sunny still and 37 is Friday's low. I have to feel better so I can run this because this is great weather for Oct.

This positive thoughts...That always helps

Also, take lots of cold meds.

I can't imagine Mark wanting to freak you during a taper, but then again....

And reviewing the forecast, that's a really nice forecast, like you noted.  Wind direction shifts from NNE to SE on Saturday.  In Houston, that would mean humidity jumps.  Don't know about Lincoln.  Sunrise at 7:33.

Weather isn't going to add to your madness.

Not taking meds, hoping if I am a little warmer/fevered it is killing the virus, that's my hope. Can't take any antihistimine due to nursing. But good ideas!

Yeah the weather is just too good. I should start feeling better tomorrow, at least it usually seems that when I just sneeze like crazy for a day it gets better than next day. So I'm banking on that. Eating my chicken soup and blueberries and just doing my best. After Brian gets home tonight he said he'd feed the kids supper etc and I could just relax/rest alone for the evening. Hoping it works!

Still really tired today but improving, I think. Trying to stay positive. Still 62 and sunny tomorrow. Really really really hoping to feel better for tomorrow. If not there's a out back out back marathon in KS in Nov I could do or I could try to find another ultra since that's what I trained for. I would hate to not run a 50K at this point.

Julie wrote:Still really tired today but improving, I think. Trying to stay positive. Still 62 and sunny tomorrow. Really really really hoping to feel better for tomorrow. If not there's a out back out back marathon in KS in Nov I could do or I could try to find another ultra since that's what I trained for. I would hate to not run a 50K at this point.

This reads like you have Mike's version of TAPER MADNESSSS, where the body is not playing nice.  You'll be fine.  I'll bet Mark's life on it!

Are you allowed to bet someone else's life????   Yeah I'm a freak out but improved from yesterday so all I have to do is really improve in the next 25.2 hrs and I'll muddle through.

Go go go!!!!!!!

Got my packet, had the "let's run our own race" talk and now I just have to get better in the next 19 hrs.

ounce wrote:

Julie wrote:Still really tired today but improving, I think. Trying to stay positive. Still 62 and sunny tomorrow. Really really really hoping to feel better for tomorrow. If not there's a out back out back marathon in KS in Nov I could do or I could try to find another ultra since that's what I trained for. I would hate to not run a 50K at this point.

This reads like you have Mike's version of TAPER MADNESSSS, where the body is not playing nice.  You'll be fine.  I'll bet Mark's life on it!

Uh... hm.

Well, anyway. I think Ounce is right. Your symptoms will disappear race morning. It's going to be great!

Thanks. My knee hurts, but it's all in my head, right? It didn't hurt when I ran 2 miles the other day. I really just need this race to get here and be done with it. I've never felt so ill and nervous during taper before. This is nuts, I feel really tired but with way too much nervous energy.

Julie wrote:Thanks. My knee hurts, but it's all in my head, right? It didn't hurt when I ran 2 miles the other day. I really just need this race to get here and be done with it. I've never felt so ill and nervous during taper before. This is nuts, I feel really tired but with way too much nervous energy.

Yup. It's all in your head.

My best races came after the most horrific tapers, so I think you're in for a great race.

Just store up all that nervous energy for race day. Just don't try to burn it all up in one huge sprint at the start.

Haha, I'll start slow enough! Ahhh! It's today it's today! Actually slept pretty well, as far as sleep goes with two boys who wake a few times during the night and a 2 a.m. muffin snack for me. Yep. Well, thanks all for putting up with me the last few weeks, I've been pretty ill with this whole taper madness thing. It's a beautiful day, our first day turning on the heat this season so that's a good sign!!! 52 at the start, high of 61, clear. It's today, better actually eat my breakfast now.