You Know You’re Tapering for a Marathon When…

The pre-marathon tapering period can be a stressful couple of weeks. When you’re tapering for a marathon, you’re anxious about your upcoming race, you feel like you’re losing fitness, and you just want your marathon to be here already. To lighten your mood and de-stress, see how many of these tapering behaviors you can relate to.

You know you’re tapering for a marathon when…

you’re constantly hungry.
you’re having dreams that you show up to the race start in your underwear or without your running shoes.
you’re cranky from not running.
you find yourself frequently saying, “after the marathon…”
you’re reading a lot of motivational quotes about marathons.
your friends/significant other/co-workers run in the opposite direction when you mention the word “marathon.”
you keep flip-flopping between wishing the race was tomorrow and thinking it would be great to have a few more weeks of training.
you keep asking people for recommendations for your marathon song playlist.
you visit the starting line area to visualize race day.
you’ve completely lost focus at work.
you’re convinced you’ve gained 10 pounds since you started tapering.
you feel sluggish and like you could run forever…all during the same run.
you’ve planned out three possible outfits for the race and keep asking running friends (and total strangers) for opinions on which one to go with.
you have random bursts of energy when you want to reorganize your closets or kitchen pantry.
you’ve studied the course map enough that you’ve memorized where all the porta-potties will be on the course.
you research celebrity marathon times to see what famous people you could beat.
you feel the need to wander through a running specialty store just in case you happen to see something that you might need for the marathon.
you’ve tried every race time prediction calculator on the Internet.
you’ve vowed to not eat pasta for at least a month after the marathon.
you obsessively check the weather forecast for race day.
most of your social media updates are marathon-related.
you keep thinking about your finish line photo pose.
you’ve lost patience for the people who ask, “So, how long is this marathon?”
you feel tired during a short run and start wondering how you can possibly do 26.2.
you keep giving your family members and friends suggestions for marathon spectator signs.
every little twinge or ache in your body makes you think you’ve got a race-ending injury.
you’ve already picked out the spot where you’ll display your marathon medal.