A week from today...

One week from today!!!! Hopefully, one week from RIGHT NOW (3:37 pm) I will be finishing and getting my medal.

I can't believe it's just one week away. I feel like I have so much to do that I thought I would have done weeks in advance by now. I got a new iPod shuffle for my birthday specifically for the race. I have to synch it up and make a playlist for the race. I have to make a final decision on my raceday outfit. I guess it depends on weather but I'd like to have all options available: long sleeve with NSAL singlet over it, short sleeve with NSAL singlet, or (least favorable) just the singlet.

It's going to be a busy week, for sure. I still need to squeeze a few more runs in. Short ones -- 4, 3, and 2 miles -- but they still need to get done.

Today's run was pretty solid, a good way to end my long runs. I did 8 miles around the lake and it was hilly, hilly, hilly. I just kept thinking to stay strong because that's what the last 6.2 miles in Central Park will be. My pace was good, 9:54/mile. It wasn't my fastest 8-mile pace (9:35 last week) but that course was almost completely flat compared with this one. Look, I'm not kidding about the hills!



Here's my splits. I have no problems with this. All my miles were solid and my average pace was more than a minute faster than my goal marathon pace. I think I can pull it off!



After my run I went for my last pre-marathon massage. She's an artist, I tell ya! She did a new stretch with me today that got right into my hip flexor, exactly where I was feeling tight. I think I'm as physically ready as I'm going to get at this point.

The rest of the week will be obsessing about weather, getting around the city before and after the race, nerves, and excitement. It's going to be a crazy 7 days!

What a bummer

I'm glad I've been reading the marathon FB page so religiously. A lot of people have been posting questions about the finish area and how long it would take to get out of Central Park after the race. The answer from all the veterans: 45 MINUTES TO AN HOUR!!!! What the hell?! In years past they would have family reunion tents but they took those away this year. So not only do I have to wait almost an hour (after running 26.2 freaking miles) to get to my people but we have to pick a place to meet up and you can bet that it will be mobbed where they let people out. Ugh. So disappointing.

My husband joined me on my run this morning. It was 3 miles so he ran the first mile and a half with me and when we turned around he walked for awhile and I finished on my own and stretched while I waited. He's doing better and better each week! Our first mile together was 11 minutes and change, so he's getting faster too. When we split up and I headed back I had an 8:55 mile. As I was running I was thinking "Wow, this is really hard. Am I really going to be able to keep this up for 26.2 miles?" But when I looked at that split later I realized that I wouldn't be even close to that pace at any point in the race. That was just me being cagey and wanting to push on a short distance. Still, it's nice to see 8:55, especially on the trail.

Here's the weather prediction as of today. I so wish there was a way to lock this in! It's perfect!

In all the pre-marathon excitement...

...it's easy to forget that I still have a few more training runs to get in. I'm definitely not alone on this but I have been seriously lacking in motivation this week. The "Taper Blues" are pretty common, apparently, if there's a nickname for them in running circles. The first week of the taper I felt phenomenal, probably because I was so damned relieved to have my peak week of training over. This week? Not so much. The weather was crappy all week and that didn't help. But there's a mental component to it as well. I'm ready. I want to get this done. I don't have it in my brain to do 4- and 6-mile runs, I have it in my head that I finished the hard part of my training and I want to get going on this marathon.

I read that there's nothing you can do during the last 10 days to help your performance but there's plenty you can do to hurt it. I thought about doing the hilly course today but I decided not to. I don't think one more hillwork session is going to make any difference at this point and with these phantom knee twinges I've had all week (again, totally not alone on this either, it's part of the Taper Blues), I'd probably mess my knee up coming down one of the steep hills with my rotten luck. So I did the treadmill today. Tomorrow I'll run 3 on the trail, Sunday I'll run 8 around the lake. Then next week it's just 2- and 3-mile runs.

Just bring it on, already. I'm never going to be more ready than I am now. Impatience. Another huge characteristic of the Taper Blues.

As of today's forecast, high of 57, no rain. I wish there was a way to lock that in! I check the forecast twice a day and I'm sure it will be every hour the days before.

Butterflies!

Woah. In 9 days, I'm going to be a part of this!!!!

Watch live streaming video from nyrr at livestream.com

Fingers!

I can count the days down on just my fingers now. TEN!

That also means I can start obsessively start stalking the weather forecast. Right now there is a 50% chance of rain. According to another forecast, sunny and high of 60. I would like to see that temp come down by 3 degrees and take the rain off the table. Sit me down with Mother Nature for some negotitations. We'll pass the napkin back and forth with our offers and hopefully agree. Wouldn't that be great?

What I do know for sure is that the weather SUCKS right now. I had the air conditioning on last night. Take one step outside and you immediately get sticky and hot. Halloween is in 3 days! When I was a kid it was a fight with my mother not to have to wear a winter coat over my costume. This year the poor kids will be sweating in their little fuzzy lion and dog costumes.

I was supposed to go running today at lunch but it's so gross out. I still may just to get it over with. It's only 4 miles. Saturday is 3. Sunday is 8.

Is this the Miami marathon?

Today was disgustingly humid. In fact, 88% humidity, I checked. And it was about 70 degrees. So needless to say, tonight's run sucked. I was slow, like a minute slower per mile than I was last week. I didn't sweat it though, I knew why I felt crappy. I love statistics but I'm too lazy to look up longest unseasonably high temp/humidity stretch for this time of year but I'm hoping that it is improbable that it could last for 12 more days. So I'm okay with a crappy run tonight if the weather gets better by November 7th. There's a guy on the NYC Marathon FB page who posts the updated weather forecast for marathon day every morning. So far, so good! But, as my husband pointed out, they can't accurately predict what will happen tomorrow, never mind almost 2 weeks in advance. I'm hoping though! Hey, I hoped for the ferry, I hoped for the upper deck of the Verrazano, let's pull a hat trick and get that idyllic day I hoped for all this time!

The FB page for the marathon is on fire. Everyone is posting their wave/corral and people are even setting up separate FB pages for them. There's already a sense of camaraderie. People are sharing their excitement, their fears, and their injuries. I didn't realize that about half of the field are non-US participants but that only makes sense for a city like New York. All the posts from people coming from Italy, Germany, Brazil, England, India, and so many other countries are really cool. The locals are getting into the excitement too. Someone posted that he's having his annual party at mile 4 (in the Bronx) and he was willing to make signs for anyone who asked. I guess they have a great cheer section there because some marathon veterans commented how they were looking forward to seeing them again. I can't wait to see what signs they come up with, there were some good requests.

It's slowly dawning on me that I'm going to be a part of this! Just 12 more days!!

National Married-to-a-Runner Day

I saw this on FB.

For my husband:

Thank you for listening to my marathon babbling nonstop for the last 16 weeks. Thank you for not divorcing me over my nonexistant housework lately. Thank you for buying me my favorite coconut water and chocolate chip muffins on my long run days. When I cross that finish line in 13 days it will be because you loved me enough to get me there.

Dress Rehearsal

The day before I left for Chicago my Team Animal League shirt finally came. Truthfully, they should have sent them a month ago when we were all doing our long runs. Other charity groups got theirs months ago so they could make sure they were comfortable running in them by the time the marathon came. But whatevs, it's fine. Running stuff is sized SO SMALL for all those 90-lb men and women who Asics seems to be designing for. I'm pretty average sized but when I looked at the measurement chart I thought I'd err on the side of caution and order an XL. Good thing I did. I probably should have gotten an XXL so it would be longer. How's that for the 'ole self-esteem? Run your brains out for 18 weeks, get in the best shape of your life, and you're still the biggest size on the chart. Hmph.

Assuming it's cool that day, this is how I plan on wearing it. Looks okay, right?

I like that it's printed on the back too. Toobad the picture is blurry, my husband isn't the greatest photographer. It has the North Shore logo on it. Nice.

So there you have it, I'm a team member and I'll be running in a sea of other team members representing dozens of wonderful charities. I might be making this fact up (as I sometimes do) but I *think* I read that NYC is one of the most charitable marathons in the US. Probably because it's so damned hard to get into that most people run for a charity just for the entry.

I wore it today on my long run, just to make sure I didn't hate it. It does ride up a little but it should be okay. I saw some people checking out my shirt as I ran toward them, which was kind of cool. One guy was running with his dog and he gave me a thumbs up.

My long run today was hard but I had a feeling it would be. Let's just say, without going into too much detail, that there are several days out each month where I have less energy than usual. Today was one of those days. I didn't eat well yesterday, like hardly at all. I have a bad track record with my 12-milers. I returned to the trail today which is where my last disastrous 12-miler was. I thought it was important to get the hill work in. Between being tired and the hills, it was not my best run. I had pretty much talked myself out of it being a good run before I even started. I knew I would. Twelve is a hard distance for me -- it's too long to go all out like I have been for my 8- and 10-milers but it's not long enough for me to get into that long-distance mindset. But when I felt like giving up today I had a great thought: at this point in the game, my body is stronger than my mind. Trust my training and just let it happen.

And it did. It wasn't my best run but it certainly wasn't my worst. I got some great hill work in -- 5 mile of continuous, steady uphill. It killed my hamstrings but it should make those bridge approaches seem short in comparison. I hope!

Two weeks from today! Two weeks from right now I will be hanging out with my girl, Julie, and celebrating!

The calm before the storm

I had a running partner today! My husband joined me for about 1.5 miles of my run. He's already improved so much from just a few weeks ago. It was nice to have that time together. The weather is gorgeous, we were on a beautiful trail and the leaves are at their peak. After we were done we went to a local cheese farm, got some amazing artisan cheese, and then went to a farm down the road to get our pumpkins. It was a really nice morning. Not that I plan to stop running after the marathon but it's nice to get a glimpse of what weekends can be like when I'm not on a marathon training schedule.

Tomorrow is 12 miles. I think I'll go back to the trail to do it so I can get some more hillwork in. With so few training runs left I'm trying to vary my courses so I can get a little bit of everything in: hills, speed, and distance. My last "long" run next week will be 8 miles (which was my long run at the beginning of training, it's all come full circle). I will go back to the loop around the lake because it's all rolling hills and I think that will put me in a good place mentally for Central Park.

15 days! Just 13 days until we get to NYC for the weekend! I can't wait to get to the expo on Friday and get my bib and then walk around buying tons and tons of stuff I really don't need but am going to have to have. I haven't seen any "official" merchandise on the NYRR site that has interested me but I read that all the big sponsors, like Asics, do their own NYC stuff. Asics has a slogan, "26.2: To Hell and Back," that would be a cool shirt to get. Anything with a swear word on it is right up my alley.

I'd like to stick around for Marathon Monday (will need to run that past my friend who is staying with me on Sunday night) because I read that's fun too. They'll engrave your medal for you with your name and finishing time and I guess you can pick up your race photos right there. I have no idea how they can process multiple photos for 40,000 runners overnight but it would be cool to come home with one. I haven't had a good race picture yet this year (what a surprise) but I may have to loosen my criteria for what makes a good picture simply for the magnitude of the event. Hopefully I won't look like death crossing the finish and even if my tongue is sticking out (as it usually is in pictures for some reason) or my eyes or shut, or it's the most unflattering angle imaginable, I think I still need to get one to say I was there. :)

Running in a fishbowl

I got my treadmill workout in today, 5.10 miles. I hated every step. At least I had no one next to me for the first 20 minutes but then it got busy and all the treadmills were taken. It was incentive to run a little faster even though I planned on making this an easy run day. It was so hot in there, as expected, and I just don't dig doing my run in a room with a bunch of other people. Running in a race doesn't bother me, everyone is kind of doing their own thing. I just feel like everyone is always checking everybody else out in the gym, probably out of pure boredom. I'd so much rather be outside, minding my own business, lost in my own world.

It's done though. I felt good. I'm always relieved when I get my run in on the road since it just seems so much harder to do even though I had extra time this morning. It's counting down now, I think there's only 9 more training runs before the big day. That's crazy!

The next 2 days will be exhausting. Meetings tonight until 9 (that's the official end time, which means nothing. I'll be working until midnight, easily. Then tomorrow is a looooooong day. At least I go home tomorrow night.

Overload

The excitement is building for the marathon. The banners are up in NYC (so I see from the pictures online). Everyone is in their taper. There's tweets and retweets and FB posts galore. There's lots of articles on course strategy, like this cool interactive one from asics and this article on the NYC marathon site. I started reading A Race Like No Other on the plane.

And then, of course, there is this.

I'm officially on overload.

I love all these articles and comments. A Race Like No Other has given me the chills twice and I'm only on page 38. But I think I'm going to wait until after the race to finish it. I'm going to stop reading it for now. There's nothing I'm going to be able to improve in my training in these last 18 days. The course is what it is. It's challening, no amount of reading is going to make the hills and the bridges any less challenging. And the more I read, the more freaked out I get. So I'm putting a moratorium on marathon course-related stuff.

For now, I'm just going to focus on getting in my run tomorrow. The hotel gym is horrifying. It's a gorgeous facility with tons of equipment but it's all glass enclosed in the main lobby so everyone walking by can see in. Fantastic. I hate hotel gyms anyway, this is just perfect. So I will put the struggle of how hard the marathon course will be out of my head and replace it with the struggle of how awkward I'm going to feel on the treadmill with the entire Hilton watching me. It's always something!

Reaping the benefits

I am loving this taper!

Tonight was almost the run that didn't happen. I'm leaving for Chicago tomorrow and, amazingly, everything was wrapped up for the meeting by early afternoon. I thought I had it made to leave a little early and get my run in. Then the afternoon exploded out of left field with another project and I was completely stressed out. I still managed to leave a few minutes early (because, really, I'm going to have to deal with it tomorrow anyway). I drove to my run start and I was a mess. I couldn't find my phone and I kept dropping things. I felt so rushed that I forgot to stretch before I got going and I definitely felt it a few miles in.

At some point I relaxed and put the fact that I still had to pack (still have to as of now, haven't done a thing since I got home) and the anxiety over work out of my mind and tapped into the idea that my run was my time and to get everything out of it that I could.

And, honeys, I milked that sucker for all it was worth. 8.09 miles at a 9:35/mile pace. That is probably my best pace to date and it was for a pretty decent distance. I felt awesome! Check out these splits!!

I had a sub-9 mile in there! I was on fire tonight! I think knowing that my runs will get shorter until the marathon made me feel like I could put more into it. I don't want to burn myself out but I feel like if I work a little harder now when I go out slower for the marathon to account for the distance I'll be okay. Seems like that would work, anyway. Who knows?

I'm packing my running stuff. Thankfully I only have to get one run in and it's a 5-miler. On Thursday we don't get started until 11:30 so I'm hoping I can hit the treadmill at 8 without everything falling apart as it always seems to onsite. I don't have the greatest track record getting my runs in on the road but the odds are more in my favor than they usually are and I'm SO close to finishing up this training I think that will motivate me to get to the gym.

HELLO, taper!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously I cannot believe I made it this far. The TAPER!!!!!! I not only survived my peak week, I ROCKED it!!! 41.29 miles! My runs this week were all consistent and strong ending with a solid 20-miler today.

I wasn't sure how it would go when I started out. It was freaking FREEZING when I started -- 43 degrees. I love the cold but that was definitely a little on the chilly side. It was also pretty windy today, especially on the shore. Running into the wind was tough but I kept telling myself that it was great training for the race.

I was a little miserable around mile 14 because I stupidly let the thought "6 more miles, a little more than an hour left" rattle around in my head. That just seemed sooooooo long after already running more than a half marathon. Thankfully, I got over it.

I didn't have any spectacularly good or bad miles, I was more or less consistent. I had 3 consecutive miles at a 10:22/mile pace. That's about as consistent as it gets!

I was working a nice sub 10:30/mile pace until I had an incident with a missing Gatorade bottle. Before I started my run I put bottles at 5, 10, and 15 miles. When I got to mile 15 and was looking for my bottle, I saw that the homeowner was doing yard work. I didn't see my bottle and I was too embarrassed to ask for it so I kept going. But at mile 16 I was really thirsty so I went into a McDonald's on the route. I was so annoyed waiting in line because I knew the clock was ticking and literally, as I took the last step up to the counter, I hit mile 17. What a difference a step can make. After I paid for the water I used the bathroom (since I was there anyway) so I ended up having two 12+ minute miles because of it. But that's really the only snag I hit. I felt as strong as I could expect to at mile 20 and, honestly, when I was done I felt like doing that extra 6.2 was not going to be impossible.

And with that -- I'm into the taper! I can honestly say that I have worked as hard as I could and that I can go into the next 3 weeks leading up to the marathon with confidence. I've followed the training program pretty much to the letter -- I only missed 4 runs in 15 weeks and 2 of those were because of my gallbladder surgery. I am prepared as I can possibly be. Now I get to enjoy the taper and hopefully feel my body rebuild, strengthen, and restore in the days leading up to the big day.

Oh, I had a massage today right after my run. I swear that girl is an artist. Were it not for a giant blood blister on my foot (which I thought about showing but I don't want to lose the few readers I have, haha), I would never know I ran 20 miles this morning.

Happy Mail Day!!

It came!!!!!

My husband came in the house with the mail and said I had something from ING. I flew down the stairs 2 at a time (not a good idea, really, for someone running a marathon in 23 days) to get it. Yay!!! I will read every page at least 3 times, probably more. There's a super cool fold-out course map in there and neat detail maps of the start villages.

I so needed this. I know it's just a little thing but it's exciting to get the official guide, especially going into my 20-miler on Sunday. I think of the 45,000 other people who will be getting in their last big run this weekend and it makes me feel like part of something.

I got in my last mid-week run today, an easy 5 miles on the treadmill. It's hard to believe "easy" and "5 miles" goes in the same sentence but it kind of was. I didn't even feel warmed up until I was almost done. Oh, how this will all change after the marathon when I'm not doing insanely long runs. ;) I will feel every foot of a 5-mile run. It was nice just to breeze through it today though. I don't even know what my pace was, I went slow on purpose.

Rest day tomorrow. Hopefully my next post will be about the agony and ecstasy of the 20-mile monster.

Falling into place

Fundraising goal: MET!!!!!

A wonderful friend made a donation today and she put me right over the top: $2501 raised for North Shore Animal League! I am so excited to think about the animals the money will go to help. And just for that, here's a cute puppy/kitty picture.

I am so thankful to everyone who has supported this quest. This is truly a dream come true to make an impact in the lives of shelter animals. Through the generosity of my friends, family, and even some strangers along the way, I'd like to think that there will be just a little less suffering in the world. This is an amazing feeling!

To add to that, I had another phenomenal run today. I was scheduled for 5 but the loop I wanted to do was a little over 6. Hell, on a 40+ mile week what's another mile? It was really windy today and while it made the run more challenging it was good practice for NYC because I know that's going to be windy on the bridges and in the city. My average pace for 6.08 miles was (drum roll, please)...9:43/mile!!!! My second sub-10 minute/mile run in a week! Check out these splits (and remember the first mile is always off, I think my watch said 10:29 when I hit the first mile marker):

There ain't nothing wrong with that, baby! I am feeling so strong lately. The last 5 months of hard work are really starting to pay off. Tomorrow I will do 5 on the treadmill, partly because we're supposed to get a really bad storm and also to do an easier run because of what's coming on Sunday. I'll back off on pace tomorrow because I need to reserve everything I have for the 20-miler. Once I start the taper and will have less mileage to cover I'm going to try to make every run count for pace. The stronger I can be for at least the first half of the race will help me later when my pace really slows down.

No program today in the mail. I called NYRR and she said they were mailed on Sept 30th. That was 2 weeks ago :( She said if I don't get it by tomorrow to call but she said it will be a PDF on the website. I don't want the PDF, I want my own booklet to read 100 times. Maybe she'll take pity on me and send another copy.

A solid start to the week!

The weather ended up being just fine today so I did my 10-miler. I'm relieved. I didn't want that hanging over my head one more day than it needed to be. Two 5-mile runs won't cause me stress (I hope!), especially knowing I have the second-hardest one of the week done.

And it was spectacular. I wasn't sure when I started out how it would go. I started to cycle through all the negative thoughts on my drive to where I start but I told myself to just shut up already. Ten miles is 1 more mile than 9, which I've done fantastically for 2 weeks in a row, and 8 miles for 3 weeks before that. Once I shifted my thoughts to "it ain't no big thang" and stopped worrying about pace, I felt the excitement that this is my peak week and once I get through it I can take my place at that start line knowing I have worked as hard as I could.

My pace for the 10.01 miles was...10:05/mile! I added a mile from last week and shaved off 3 seconds per mile overall. I am so, SO pleased that my pace is consistently well under the 11/min per mile I'm shooting for at the marathon. I know anything can happen on race day but the more consistent I've been and the stronger I feel, the better chance I have for meeting that goal.

My splits are great. You have to disregard that first mile, it took me forever to get my iPhone in my pack. It seems like I end up carrying more and more crap each week.

I'm still experiencing that mid-run slump but it's only a matter of seconds, not minutes like it had been. My splits are negative, which I love. I ran the second half faster than the first with two sub-10 miles in there.

Huzzah! Next week my longest mid-week run is 6 miles. That's doable!!

Still no program from the marathon. I couldn't wait to get the mail but, alas, just a bunch of junk. I read online that some people never even got theirs last year, I hope that doesn't happen to me! I want my program!

I wish there was mail today

Everyone is starting to get their official NYC marathon programs in the mail. I want mine! I need it this week, I need that mental boost.

I managed to keep my dreaded-week-of-the-20-miler freakout in check today because it was a rest day. Tomorrow begins the hardest week I have faced in my training and what can potentially make or break me for marathon day.

I was going to do my 10-miler tomorrow night but I looked at the weather and Wednesday will be the far better day for a long run, it's supposed to be sunny and a high of 60. I plan to leave work a little early and get going around 4:30 like last week. It was just getting dark when I finished but I'm adding a mile on this week and the sun sets 7 minutes earlier. It will be dark by the time I finish but that's okay, this is my last crazy-long mid-week run. Next week it cuts back to 6 miles.

So I'll do one of my 5-milers tomorrow. I can handle that. I'm really trying to take this week one day at at time because if I let myself give into the fear and anxiety of failing my 20-miler then I'm done for. I'm doing the same route as the 18-miler for the 20, just with a few extra loops thrown in. With that decision made I can hopefully put it out of my mind until Sunday. Well, until Saturday night when I get my running stuff together.

I'm trying to eat well, stay hydrated, and get enough sleep. Those things will go far in how I feel on Sunday.

10-10-10: The Kel-pocalypse

That's what my friends and I are calling it. It's my birthday! I feel like I should buy a Powerball ticket or something, 10-10-10 seems like it's pretty lucky!

It's been a great weekend. Yesterday I did the Hartford 1/2 and the weather was perfect. I wasn't as fast as I had hoped but I wasn't terrible either. My overall pace was 10:35/mile and that's nothing to complain about. I also wasted a good 4 minutes waiting in line for a porta-john because they only had 2 or 3 about every other mile for 3,000 runners. I've never needed to use the bathroom during a race and I'm going to try to avoid it at all costs from now on because it just kills my pace. The medal is hardcore! When I did the race in 2003 the 1/2 finishers just got a little pin. This medal is some serious hardware!

The shirt is awesome too, it's the nicest one I've ever gotten for a race. I like the overlock stitching on it. AND it's the first time I've gotten a "female" shirt, usually it's unisex and those shirts are so boxy. This one is fitted and I'll wear this one a lot when I'm training in the cooler weather.

My splits were all decent, minus the bathroom stop mile.

When I was running the course (it's a new one from 2003) I kept thinking that it seemed really hilly. I wasn't wrong.

That's a lot of elevation! No wonder I was a little slower. That giant big blue spike is me waiting in the bathroom line. Also, the course was 13.56 miles. I trust my running app down to the millimeter and an extra 4/10ths of a mile is over 4 minutes of running for me. I've read that they measure courses taking the shortest possible distance, so you'd have to hug the inside track on every corner to hit that distance. If you're in the middle of the road or on the outside corner, it all adds up. So when I take all of that into account, I'm not unhappy with my performance.

Today I did my short run and I got a birthday present of my first sub-10 average mile pace!

This course is no joke either, it's the hill course from hell that I've complained about so many times. I felt like I was totally in control and I felt amazingly strong. That's a very good thing because I'm going into my peak week. The big one. The one that will get me to the finish line: a 10-miler, 2 5-mile runs, and the big ole 20-miler. I've just got to hold it together for this week and then I can go into the taper feeling as confident as I can be that I've truly put in the work and I'm as ready as I'm going to be for the marathon.

The Final Countdown!

This song has been on my playlist forever. I admit it. I have fantastically bad taste in music and I don't make apologies for it.

30 days from today!!!! Thirty days from right now I will hopefully be in my hotel room wearing my medal with my pjs and celebrating my finish.

I'm also in the final countdown for my fundraising! I am only $59 away from my goal! Another wonderful friend made a very generous donation today. I am thrilled to think about the animals our team's efforts will help.

Tomorrow is the Hartford 1/2 marathon. I remember being so nervous about it back in 2003 -- it was my first 1/2 mary and I had trained all summer for it. I never would have thought that doing the half would be my easy week. It will still be fun though, Hartford is a nice race. The weather is supposed to be perfect. It should be a good time, a little taste of what marathon day will be like.

Don't worry, be happy

9.02 miles at a 10:08/mile pace. No, that's not a typo. A 10:08/mile pace.

I don't think I've hit that pace in the last 18 weeks for a short run, never mind a 9 mile one. I'm thrilled. It seemed like I was getting slower as the weeks wore on and this is a nice step in the right direction. Of course, because not a single thought has entered my head in the last 15 weeks that isn't directly or indirectly related to running, I couldn't just be happy with that and move on. Instead I'm nervous that I'm peaking too early and that I'll be spent by the time the marathon comes.

I have a 5-miler on Thursday, I think I'll go easy on that run because Hartford is Saturday and I'd rather push on pace then. Truthfully, I have no idea what I'm doing at this stage. I'm following the training program for mileage but I don't know what I should be doing for pace. Pushing or backing off? Just take the good runs when they happen? Accept that there will still be bad ones? I know I'm not the only basket case with this stuff. I read so many blogs, tweets, and FB status updates every day from people training for a fall marathon and they're all a mess too. I guess we just put our miles in and on race day trust our training.

Gratitude

Today. ROCKED.

The 18-miler went as good as it ever could have and better than I hoped. The weather was perfect, high 50s when I started. This is the kind of day I dream of for the marathon.

I had a feeling I was going to have a good run, in the first mile my legs felt good, I wasn't breathing heavy at all, and I hit the first mile marker at 9 minutes and 30 seconds. As psyched as I was about that, I knew I had to hold back because I haven't trained at that pace for long distances and I had a really long distance to cover today. So I slowed down but it was actually good that I started out at that pace because it set the tone for the rest of the run.

Around the 2-mile mark I saw a man out walking, also enjoying the gorgeous day. He had a severe limp and a walker. Seeing him struggling just to walk made me think of my dad, a stroke survivor. He struggles every day. When I saw that man today it made me realize how GD lucky I am to have my health and to be able to train for this marathon. As I get older I realize more and more that health isn't anything to be taken for granted. Bad crap can happen at any time, just ask my dad. That put it all into perspective for me. I wanted to give the run the best I could because I am fortunate enough to be able to do so.

I only messed up on my route once but it was a minor mistake. I never needed my map that I made and I felt pretty confident that I knew where I was going. My Gatorade drops were perfectly placed. Since it was cool today I didn't ever go through a whole bottle before getting to the next one. So much better than running out and dying of thirst.

So here's the course -- impressive, isn't it?!

And here's the splits. Even more impressive! I only had 2 miles above 11 minutes and one of them was when I stopped to use the bathroom just before mile 11.

My overall pace was 10:33/mile (going by my watch, the app is always a little high because I have to put away my iPhone before I get going). That is AWESOME. I can't believe I was so consistent and solid with my pace for 18 miles. EIGHTEEN MILES! Besides praying for weather like today, if I can pull off a solid run like this for marathon day I will be so freaking psyched.

What I was most encouraged by was that I felt better at mile 18 than I did at mile 12. Fatigue comes in waves for me but when it does come I always worry that it's not a wave but the end. I honestly felt like I could have banged out a few more miles when I finished which is a good place to be, mentally and physically, with the 20-miler coming up.

This has been a great week for running. I haven't felt like my training has been consistent and I felt like I was struggling a lot more after my gallbladder surgery. This week was rock solid and I feel like a real runner training for a marathon.

Tomorrow is 4 miles and my husband is coming with me! He wants to start running again. This could be a whole new thing for us!

Big Time

I drove my course for the 2nd time today. Plus part of it was the 9-miler I did on Wednesday so I guess I feel as comfortable as I'm going to get with knowing where I'm going. I'll see part of the course again tomorrow morning when I drop off my Gatorade bottles. There's only one really complicated part but I drove that section twice today to make sure I had it down. Still, things are so very different on foot than in the car.

I'm happy with the course I mapped out. It's scenic. There aren't too many repeats so I won't get bored. It's runner friendly as far as traffic and sidewalks go, and it's relatively flat. There are some rolling hills in it but not anything hugely steep. Ideally I would have put at least one big hill in there but you can't have everything. Safety is my primary concern when I'm going to be out there for over 3 hours.

I did get a little dry-heavy on the drive thinking about the run. Part of it is nerves: I don't want to get lost and I need it to be a good run. Part of it is excitement: I can't believe I'm to this point in training and if I can do this run I should feel pretty confident about the 20-miler and the marathon. This is really real. This is what counts. I made a cheat sheet for tomorrow. It's LONG. Like, scary long.

Still getting all kinds of fun NYC marathon info. I found out I am not in the very last corral. I'm actually in the first corral of the last wave with 7 more corrals behind me.

Does it make that much of a difference? Not really. There will still be about 30,000 people ahead of me. It's not so much that I'll be way in the back that I'm worried about, my chip time is what counts, not the clock time (which will start at 9:40, over an hour before I'll get to the start line). It's that I don't want to be out there until 5 pm. If it's hot, I'll be in trouble. I should try to not give that too much thought though, nothing I can do to control the weather or how long it takes me to start.

They also posted the course map. Check THIS out. Somehow it doesn't look that bad on paper. I'm in the orange wave and I swear it looks like there's more distance in the beginning than the blue one. I'm going to use my running app that day and I'll find out exactly how many damned miles it is. If it's one foot over 26.2 I want extra credit.

Hopefully I'll have a great map and split chart to post tomorrow!