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!!!!

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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!