If I accidentally stumbled onto my pacer’s strava, it’s not weird to thank them for pacing, right?

Mine definitely rises, rising up to 2-3x its unrisen height. I keep a tiny one and refresh it daily (8g starter, 30g water, 30g flour), so I don’t know how they really work when you’re not discarding most of it each time you feed it.

I moved right around Thanksgiving last year, too. I did a compressed Thanksgiving dinner with my partner on Wednesday, the last meal I cooked in that oven of an apartment. We cleaned up the dishes after and instead of putting them away in the cabinet, directly packed them into moving boxes. Kinda surreal, kinda fun.

When I went back to clean the apartment, … I had no idea there had been so much cat hair on my cat.

Complaint: it’s supposed to rain for the next 3 days! The half is on sunday! aaaaaa i don’t want it to be raining on sunday because i’m soft and weak.

Uncomplaint: I suspect enough people ???ed at the relevant parties that the half has (sorta) re-instituted same-day gear check, but for people who had packets mailed. Which is me! I had my packet mailed!

Uncomplaint: I’m actually feeling good enough during this taper that my there’s-no-way goal is looking kinda plausible. I’m hitting very fast paces (well, for me) during the bits of fast running I’m allowing myself this week. It’s going to feel bad on Sunday, but it’s expected to feel bad.

Confession: Needlessly bought a new pair of shoes. They look so cool. They were on sale. I need them. (Won’t get to wear them for at least a week, maybe longer, of course.) They’re so squeaky that the cat got spooked and puffed up his tail thicker than a soda can. He – his back third, at least – is the very image of a raccoon.

I think 6lb of potatoes for two people is enough, but… Maybe I should go back and get more.

How fast am I going to run this half marathon on Sunday? When is the taper going to feel good? How many potatoes am I going to eat this week? How will I deal with the fact that I’m going to get absolutely smoked by someone who puts on running shoes for the first time in their life the morning of the race?

I could give real numbers (I ran a 10k last month at 8:10/mile pace, I’ve averaged 25mpw for the last three months; last year I ran this same half at 1:57:30ish on 17mpw) but obviously the real problem is that I’m anxious as hell.

Our cat is losing his fuzzy little mind over the end of DST. It’s dark (5pm) and yet we don’t feed him for hours (7pm). Unfortunately for him, he expresses his displeasure by smooshing his head against my ankles, which is a cute behavior I want him to keep doing, so… he gets fed when the alarm goes off at 7.

Uncomplaint: It’s taper time! 10 days til the half!

Complaint: I have been thinking “taper!!!” as hard as I can and yet I’ve run nearly as much as I did last week at this time…

Complaint: Really stressing about race logistics. No day-of gear check, for “sustainability” reasons. I live 3 miles away, so I was going to bike over, but where am I gonna stash my bike shoes and jacket? Current plan is to bike in my ooooooold shoes and wear a jacket I don’t care about, so if I have to throw them out it’s okay, but ugh. I can’t leave my stuff in my car because I don’t even own a car.

Oh, partner just confirmed with the race organizers that we’re not even allowed to leave a pannier on our bikes. What the hell?