Pre-Race Running (and lack thereof)

I hate tapering. Before every marathon, the 2 weeks before you are supposed to cut down you mileage and allow your muscles to re-build before the race.  For me, it always becomes a time of laziness. A couple weeks of "why go out if it's only 4 miles?"

Add into that my birthday (yesteryday), Valentines, and going out of town to visit friends, and all my modivation is gone. I'm happy with a snack in hand and running far from my mind. 

That is, until it catches up.  Two days ago I went out to run and my legs were concrete.  CONCRETE. I couldn't get them to move. They were stiff and after each step I wanted to stop. I couldn't get my  mind in the right place, and the fears of "Oh HOW am I going to do a marathon" keep creeping in.

And so, I went a got a massage.  I let the therapist know about my running and leg issues and hoped for the best.   After an hour of tortue, she worked out a lot of issues and demanded I start foam rolling more regularly.  I have a roller, but sort of do it not that often. At all.

But, mostly I'm sharing all this to say: I'm 10 days from the marathon, and despite all the training I can still get nervous.  I can still doubt if I'm going to make it (even though I've done this race before.) And when you eat like crap, your body feels like crap.