Yep, another Thursday, another easy run. Almost 5 degrees today, but still too cool for shorts for me. 8 more runs left until the big day.

Wednesday runs are great. I push just a bit harder in the middle section and then coast home. This was the first real taper day today, 3 km less than last week. 18 days to go.

Hey, look, I went running again today! Really not much to say. Cooler weather has returned again, and it was kinda windy on the way back home.

When I run around town, I run around the town. This is my longest training run, and the longest I will run before the real deal on May 1. 32 km of goodness. I made it back home before the hail came down, which I’m very glad about.

I love the intensity of Wednesday runs. My energy level was low today, so getting through the 6 km tempo section was a challenge, but I felt great afterwards. I love the feeling when I come down from that level, it’s like I’m just floating on air.

As I was wrapping up the Around the Bay race a week and a half ago, one of the thoughts my mind drifted to in the last 5 km or so was the list of things that I do now that I never thought I would do before I started running.  It came back to me this morning as I was preparing for my 8 km run, and I tried something I have never done before.

Putting duct tape on my foot to avoid blisters.

Honestly, it seems like a pretty weird thing to do.  Yes, I have had good results with BodyGlide in the past.  It’s more of an experiment, really.  I don’t see why it wouldn’t work though.

When I ran in Hamilton, I forgot to grease up my foot, and it rewarded me with a monster blister that took a week to heal.  It could be a bad fit, improper lacing or something beyond my control.  What is important is that I have a 32 km run coming up this weekend and I don’t want a repeat performance.  So I’m going to try this duct tape thing this week and see how it goes.

This week’s long run was shorter than the race last week at 22.5 km, but it seemed harder because I was running alone. I ran the half marathon course again this week, and it was nice to do it without snow blocking the way. Just four weeks to go until the marathon.

One of the blisters I got from Sunday was really painful yesterday afternoon.  I hadn’t really done anything to treat it, and that seems to have been a mistake.  I cleaned my foot, put some antibiotic ointment and gauze on it and hoped for the best.  

It was feeling better this morning, so I went for a 15 km run, and everything went just fine.  Still cold though. :(

I felt recovered enough from Sunday’s race to run my usual 8K easy run today.  The only problem I have is blisters on my feet. 

It’s still cold, and I want spring to hurry up and get warm already.  The temperature was -6C when I left this morning. 

The race today was awesome.  It was cold, but the sun was shining, and there were thousands of people running with me.  The pack never really seemed to thin out the way I have experienced in other races.  It’s amazing to think that I ran the entire 30 km distance at a faster pace than my first 5K last June.   Going into the run, my target pace was 6:00/km.  I realized about 5 km in that there was no way I was going to hold myself back, so I just hoped that the hills in the back half weren’t as bad as I feared.  They weren’t, although there were a couple of doozies. I ran the last 200 m or so close to 4:00/km, and my heart rate was apparently 212 bpm!

What I gained: Experience running farther than I ever have before.  Blisters on both my feet.  Chafing in areas that I’d rather not talk about.  A new heart rate zone.

What I lost: My fear of running this far.  About 2100 calories. A toenail.  

The best part: A “pat on the back” from my son at the end.