My bags are packed. I’ve decided which shoes to wear, the shorts and shirt. The carbo load begins today. My dad arrives tonight to baby sit the dogs. I’m ready to race.

I sat on the back patio yesterday for a good long time. The breeze was brisk, the sun warm on my face, the leaves were falling ever so gently – I’m ready to race.

the hoopla

The first week of taper, my body is tired and I’m ready for the end of training. Week two finds me rested but anxious, worried…a little irritable. The last week my nerves finally settle and excitement takes over.

Understandably folks may wonder, why all the hoopla about a taper? A good analogy comes from the silver that was just polished at my house.

I have polished this silver many times before a big day. It is a job I want to finish before the rush of last-minute party chores. Do it too early and it may fade before the big day and not look its best. Tackle it too close to the big day and you may run out of time to get it all done.

each one has its own indosyncrocies

There are two teapots in our pantry on the shelves above the coffee maker. Each has a different pedigree. One began its life at the historic Tavern on the Green restaurant in New York’s Central Park. It has been put through the paces dozens and dozens of times. It polishes up so easily as if to say, “I’ve done this before – no big deal.”

Then there’s the second teapot. It was found in an antique store and may well have spent a good deal of time doing nothing before it came to my house. It is much more complex and difficult to polish.

Yet when they have been sufficiently cleaned, both look quite handsome and both are quite capable of pouring tea in their own distinctive manner.

And so it is with marathoners. We all train differently, we come from different DNA, we have different experiences. Although we face the starting line just the same, we have our own distinctive way of getting to the finish, and…. we all look quite handsome after training ourselves for this massive undertaking.

Some marathoners have a specific finish time in mind and they plot their course with precision. Others attack the course with a goal of just doing their best – running as fast as they can on that particular day – while others are delighted to cross the finish line no matter the time.

The beauty is that you can find yourself comfortably in one category or another whether you have run one marathon or 100.

No one judges you because you have chosen one category over another and everyone is happy when you reach your goal, whatever it may be.

ready to race…

Some day I may grow weary of the marathon distance but for now I am thrilled for every starting line I reach and every finish line I cross. I love the process, the effort, the details and the hoopla of the taper. I like being polished and shined up for one big day.