The Decline

In my last post I talked about the top of the mountain, and how I am on the downhill side now with only two weeks to go.  When I was running with Glenda today, she asked me, "You only have two weeks to go!  Aren't you on that - what do they call it - decline?"  It's actually called a "taper," I laughed.  It is that time in marathon training which Glenda knows only too well (having run three marathons herself, including Boston) when mileage and speed decrease, and the runner begins to put something back in the bank, instead of withdrawing it.  It is a time of careful balance between feeling as if you are getting stale and doing too much.  Because the age-old wisdom is that you can't do anything to improve your condition at this point, but you can do a LOT to worsen it by overtraining in the last three weeks.

But I thought that "decline" was more appropriate!  We older runners have to become accustomed to slower times as we decline.  We have to settle for dropping back (as I did today during my 15-mile run when I knew that others were running much faster than I should).  For taking a nap.  Or taking an extra day of rest.  The important thing is to keep on running, even if we are slowing down.  "The older I get, the faster I was!"  Decline.

And yet, even though I am in decline, some days it still feels absolutely exhilarating, especially now when I have these reserves of strength to draw upon.  After 14 miles I decided to try to hit my "new" marathon goal pace of somewhere between 9:15 and 9:30 per mile (my Declining Pace), and I got up to speed instantly, feeling strong and graceful and ending up running a 9:20 mile. 

I recently stumbled on a website called Endorphin Warrior (http://www.endorphinwarrior.com/), and read the following anonymous comment under "Warrior Wisdom."

 "Every once in awhile, during a workout, I seem to cross over a threshold and get a glimpse of just how good I can be. These moments tell me, 'There is more'."

Even we declining runners can be warriors, and can continue to discover more.