Liz Trains for a Marathon: Liz finds the prettiest spot in the city

I have started the glorious taper of marathon training. But that means running like 10 or 12 miles instead of 18 or 20. Due to a change in my schedule at work, this is one of the last Wednesday mornings I'll have free for a long run so the taper couldn't come at a better time.

Being finished with that 20-mile run, the taper, and the construction on Minnehaha Parkway at 35W (I've only mentioned it a few times...) is also awesome because it means I don't have to look at the lakes anymore. Don't get me wrong, I think they're gorgeous. We all know how I feel about Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet at sunrise. But I'm sick of seeing them.

This morning I took the Minnehaha Falls, Fort Snelling-ish path that Beth taught me a while ago. There were very few runners out this morning. I assume all the runners are still too tired from the marathon to move. There were some deer and I did hear woodpeckers as well. I looked for Eagles but the path was too well covered for me to see any. The path down to Ft Snelling is a gorgeous, 1.5 mile delicate slope leading down to the river until about fifty feet before the fort. At that point, there is a truly nasty hill. I've never successfully run up the thing, but today I came as close as anyone I know. I only walked about 30 feet of it.

Usually by the fort we cross into St Paul and run up the river parkway but I didn't want to go that far today so I stayed on the Minneapolis side and ran by the Fort. Where I found an amazing view of the river, the bridges and downtown Minneapolis. Ft Snelling is actually at a decent elevation (just based on my view) so the vista is quite impressive. It's even prettier with the leaves starting to turn.

A few other things I noticed on my run:
1. Some of the individual packages of sour patch kids have fewer kids than the others. Bummer when you're running hungry.
2. It's amazing how a surface that should be flat always appears to look like I'm running up a hill. Is there some sort of scientific optical-illusion explanation for this phenomenon?
3. When did 11.5 miles get so short?
4. When did 11.5 miles get so fun?
5. When did I learn to run up hills?
6. In the summer, the only thing that would make me happy at the end of a run is an ice bath. At any other time, I'm usually freezing the second I stop running and the only thing that will make me happy is a hot shower. It's the only thing that restores my body temperature to normal.

I don't think I'm really a hill climber yet. I made the mistake of voicing the opinion that it would be fun to run the Flying Pig, Cincinnati's marathon. I grew up there and a couple people I run with have family living there or from there. It's not such a bad idea but it does mean
-I will need to learn to run UP really big hills
-I'll finish one marathon and immediately start training for another
-I'll be training in the winter which means either cold or running around the track at the Y. Although running with friends in the cold, maybe that wouldn't be so bad...

I was a little bummed when I got home and found out the route was 11.5 miles, not the 13 I thought it was for some reason. I was also a little frustrated with the time my iPod told me it took because I felt like I went much faster than what the time would indicate.

Maybe I'll take this same route Sunday, my last long-ish run before the big day.