5 days to go time

Deep breath. I can't believe the marathon is almost upon me! I'm excited, albeit a bit disappointed at the same time. I can't help but to be excited, it's just my way. I love racing. The disappointment comes from having to throttle my goals back. Last week I spoke of being a bit hobbled, and then last Wednesday I got sick! Like sore throat can't breathe sick. Blah! So now I'm thinking this is just not going to be my race, but it could be worse. I'm feeling better now, and my leg actually feels much better too. I basically had to take the whole week off from exercising. Yuck. The point is though, I'll be able to step up to line on Sunday and who knows what will happen. Maybe I'll suck wind, or maybe I won't. You never can tell.

So what does one do with less than a week to marathon day? There's not too much actual running preparation to do, can't cram running. I like to painstakingly review minute details. What am I wearing, what I'll eat, how many hammer gels I plan to consume, what socks will I wear. It's riveting really. Nick loves my marathon talk. He often asks me "whatcha thinking about so seriously?" My reply, "the marathon." He nods, as though he should have known, and his question was just plain silly. That's what it's like to be around me this week. All running, all the time (with no actual running going on).

What exactly requires so much thinking you ask? I'm so glad you asked! Well, first off, there's racing strategy and that's important stuff. I recently read an interesting post regarding the power of mental visualization while competing in an endurance race. This 61 year old farmer in Australia won one of the world's toughest ultra marathons by visualizing that a storm was coming and he had to herd his sheep to safety. I'm fairly certain that herding sheep won't motivate me so much. I was thinking that I might visualize a pack of wild dogs chasing me. In the spirit of Halloween, I could imagine being chased by vampires or werewolves. Not zombies though, they're just too slow. Seriously though, I haven't quite figured out what I should visualize, but I do think it could be a useful tool. I'm still working through the details. I'll let you know how it goes.

Besides racing strategy, I've also been continuously going through what I'll need on race day.

Here is the absolute minimum I need to step onto the start line:

1. Running Shoes
2. Socks
3. Shorts
4. Sports bra
5. Race number/chip
   

Here's what else I plan to bring:

1. Watch
2. Hammer gels
3. Glide
4. Warmups
5. Extra cloths
6. Water
7. Bag (to be checked at the start)
8. Inhaler

Hmm, my list looks a bit meager. I'm a minimalist type of person though, I don't really need much. I'm planning on using the water stops for hydration. I'll throw some gels in my sports bra, and I'll be carrying my inhaler. My doctor has suggested that I actually take the inhaler after about three hours of running.

Oh I almost forgot, there's one more tiny little tradition I do before a big race. I did it once in college as a joke, and just never stopped (until I graduated). I'd pick a crazy dark ominous nail polish color and paint my finger nails. It's the only time I ever paint my nails, and it just cracks me up. I'm easily amused. I'm bringing back the tradition for this race. I haven't done it since college, probably because I haven't trained particularly hard for a race since college. This time I'm going with a sparkly gunmetal. That sounds tough, right? Well, except for the sparkly part, I suppose. Anyway, I plan to have fun on race day, whatever it may bring.