The taper is in sight...and Graham is awesome!

It's getting close to taper time...well, relatively close anyways. This was my  last 20 miler (there were 3 total) and the only long runs left are 22, then 18, then 12...then RACE DAY. Figuring that it had been two weeks since my last 20 miler, I decided to repeat the route I'd run for my first 20 miles and see if I couldn't cut off a little time. I felt a hell of a lot better this time around, due largely in part to figuring out some fuel sources that didn't make me cramp up etc. and ended cutting off about a minute and a half. So, though I was hoping that I would have dropped tiny bit more time, I was happy with it. Here's the run-down:

THE GOOD

• Took a minute and a half off of my previous time for this route
• Didn't sh*t my pants or yell at anyone
• Rachael Way is a genius and salted, peanut butter-filled pretzel bites are an awesome mid-run snack (I had bought the un-salted ones the first time I tried them and that was a huge mistake...it's all about the salt)

THE BAD

• Almost got eaten by an angry dog tied up to a trailer parked by the end of the Boardwalk
• Was straight up hungry two miles into it...wtf, digestion system?
• Tasked with preparing my own ice bath or waiting until Graham came back (he had parked his car by the ocean so he could meet me for the last three miles...then he had to run back down to the car solo), I decided to be a super self-sufficient runner and go get my own ice etc. I went to 7-11 instead of Safeway and finding that they only sold 7 pound bags of ice, opted to buy two and call it good...that was instead of the two 20 pound bags that Graham usually gets. I knew what I was doing, I wasn't confused...I just didn't want to try and carry any more than those two, tiny bags. So I made my bath with 14 pounds of ice instead of the usual 40! And uh, yeah, let's just say that by the end of the 10 minutes I spent soaking in the tub, the paltry 14 pounds was long gone. That will probably be the last time I'm allowed to buy the ice unsupervised.

THE AWESOME

• My kick ass husband ran the last three miles with me, encouraging and pushing me to maintain my pace as we made our way up the final mile and a half uphill canyon trail. Particularly mile 19 of this run smashed my previous split and happily contributed to the slightly faster finish. 
• Drank hot chocolate during the cold bath (realistically can't call it an ice bath) and read the Sunday comics...not too shabby.
• Ate my customary post-run shrimp burrito and chips, then went and saw Warm Bodies with G, then got delicious Verve coffee flavored ice cream from the Penny Ice Creamery kiosk downtown, then went home and had cereal for dinner like a little kid. It was frickin' awesome.