3 days and a wake up

Three days and a wake up… I'm going to run it.
October 27, 2013.
The MCM – the Marine Corp Marathon.

I am jazzed, I am excited, and I am pumped. I am thrilled to have the opportunity and the privilege to run this event.

And I am more than a little nervous. I am ready, but its a long way and anything can happen.

I am confident, but not that confident. I have trained as much as I can, I have run hills, intervals, long runs, worked muscle groups, stretched, massaged, and I’ve seen my chiropractor regularly. I am as ready as I’m going to be.

My FL project pushed my training sideways some, but hopefully not so much as it would make a difference.  My experience with Chicago (2011 and my only other marathon) has taught me that my training will get me through the miles. I feel strong, and most importantly nothing hurts, nothing feels out of sorts (which is very amazing considering the work that I’ve been doing). I have even lost 5 pounds doing this work over the last 3-4 weeks, but I think that is a good thing.

Among the things that I am fretting about is how to dress for the day…  It will be cold (maybe high 30’s? or low 40’s?) between the time that I get off the Metro and the sun rises, and then it should warm up to the low 50’s.  I love running in the high 40’s and low 50’s, so that part is good. But the trick is making it through the couple of hours before the start without becoming a popsicle. I know that I’m going to have to wear stuff that I will ditch at the start of the race, but the big decisions are what to take to ditch.

Another thing that I’m fretting about is the 14^th St Bridge crossing between miles 20 and 21 – I am told that this can a tough point, possible more so with wind.  I have also heard that the jaunt through Crystal City and then up to the Pentagon can be a drag, which sucks since those will be the toughest miles.

But oddly enough, I already know that on marathon day I will not think about any of those things or any others, and I will simply relish the day, the people, the run, and the opportunity to have been able to participate.

Yes, I would love to do spectacularly well from a timing perspective, but I will be thrilled to post any kind of a  respectable time. My immediate goal is to finish the race. I joke with people about “crossing the finish line vertical and preferably running”, but my serious goal is to finish with anything better than a 4:20hr posting. Making my stretch goal here will depend on the day, energy levels, how things are going, etc., etc.  If I hit it, or even come remotely close to it I will be over the moon with excitement.

I have a race plan and a nutrition plan. I hope that I remember it while I’m running (I sort of lost track of things during Chicago….).  I will start with the 10m/m group and depending on how I’m feeling, start working on decreasing my splits.  26.2 miles is a long way and there are plenty of miles to do things.  Nutritionally, I am planning on doing my banana thing: I’ll eat a banana prior to the start, another at mile 4 and the second one at mile 12. I’ll do GU at miles 8, 16, and 20. I’ll have an extra GU in event that I can/should suck one down between 20 and 25 – it all depends on what my stomach will handle at that point. I will also hit every water station and take down at least 4oz of fluid.

Like I said – I am as ready as I can get. Three days and a wake up.  I can’t wait.