New gear and the taper

This morning I started out on my last long-is run before the marathon.  I took it nice and easy; I am trying to respect the taper.  But really, tapering kind of sucks and I added in a few extra miles this week - it is just so hard to cut back now, I'm ready to run this thing!  But deep down, I know I need to let my body recover to be ready for the exertion I expect of it next weekend.

I tried out some of the new gear I picked up at the Brooksie Way expo.  I am most excited about the arm sleeves - I've wanted a pair for over a year now, and I think I will wear them for the marathon next weekend.  They are treadwear and were only $15 (about half the price of others I've seen).  I like that I can easily hang these from my fuel belt when I get warm, and I don't have to try and take off a shirt over my head while running.  These are the Tech Series which are moisture wicking and they double as hand warmers with their foldover cuff - very cool! 

Look ma, no hands!

I picked up a Bondi Band for $7, since I am too lazy to order a Bic Band online.  I hear great things about the Bics (and they have bands with glitter!), but the Bondi is supposed to help wick away some sweat and I always end up with some sweat stinging my eyes by the end of a long run.  I wore this under my hat, and I think it helped.  I have tried it without the hat as well, and it doesn't slide around or fall off - a BIG plus.  I also picked up a new running short sleeve shirt - this one is Mizuno, and I bought it solely for the color.  I needed something to match my socks.  :)  I think my marathon outfit will probably look very similar to what I wore today - except for black shorts instead of blue.  I wore my fuel belt loaded up and want to test to make sure nothing shifted around too much. 

So here is how the last week looked for a total of 22.01 miles.  It was technically the second week of the taper, I have 3-4 more short easy runs this week before the race next Sunday.

M 10/3: Rest
Tu 10/4: 4.29 easy, 39:56, 9:18 pace
W 10/5: 4.67 easy, 43:33, 9:19 pace
Th 10/6: 4.12 easy, 38:40, 9:22 pace; 15 min Ab Ripper X, 15 min light lifting for arms, chest, shoulders
F 10/7: Rest
Sa 10/8: 8.93 long, 1:26:00, 9:38 pace

And... its football Saturday!  So here are my picks:

10 pts: Stanford over Colorado

9 pts: Oklahoma over Texas

8 pts: Nebraska over Ohio St

7 pts: Arkansas over Auburn

6 pts: Virginia Tech over Miami

5 pts: Arizona State over Utah

4 pts: Georgia over Tennessee

3 pts: Iowa over Penn St

2 pts: Texas A&M over Texas Tech

1 pt: Missouri over Kansas St

UPDATE: 51 points for the week, my best week of the year, but still only good enough for 8th place in my group.  Good week for everyone, lots of people with 1 low-point miss.  Josh is hanging onto first by a point.

And the ALCS Game 1 is tonight... with JV on the mound, I predict a Tigers victory! Major bummer.