Heading to the expo....

We are getting ready to head to the expo and pick up our packets. Should be a fun day. Need to hydrate.

Countdown...

Wow, I can't believe that the marathon is less than a week away! I am supposed to run today, Wednesday, Thursday and a 'very easy' 3 miles on Saturday. I am not sure about the Saturday run at this point... I'll probably do a few miles though.

The 12 miler on Sunday was a breeze. Now I am really starting to get nervous though. The thoughts about never having run the distance and such are coming into my head. The three tips I have gleaned from some 'expert' runners for this week are to stay off my legs as much as possible, sleep all I can and hydrate. I am going to try and avoid all carbonated beverages this week and stick with coffee, tea and water.

The Spinx Runfest is the Saturday after the marathon. My son is going to run/walk the 5K I think. I am trying to decide if I am going to attempt the half... Not sure if I will do that or not. Clemson plays at home that day at 1:30, so I would want to finish by 10 and then get a quick shower and head out. That might be cutting it close.

Anyway, I hope my shoes continue to break in and the weather forecast holds for the weekend. It should be an adventure!

Rest day again...

I am almost looking forward to the 12 miler on Sunday. This is really odd having logged only 9 miles since Sunday. My legs feel good though!

Finally got my new shoes. I hope 30 miles or so will be enough to break them in. If I am not comfortable with them, I will just run in my old ones. They are both the same model, so I hope that makes for an easy transition. Note to self: Order new shoes a month before the next marathon... If there is a next marathon!

Less than two weeks to go...

Got my bib number... 29666 For those of you not from the Bible Belt, you may not instantly recognize the doom that is spelled out for me with the last three digits. 666 is the mark of the beast, the antichrist... This not good! I am way too superstitious, so I am going to have to do an exorcism over my bib when I pick it up. LOL

Seriously though, its all over but the taper and the race. I am starting to get a little nervous now. Every creak of my body sends fears of injury down my spine. Every sneeze symbolizes an attack of an unknown malady. This is worse than the 22 miler!

I did decide to get a hotel near the start of the race so I could sleep a little later on race day. We will be staying with my sister-in-law about 30 miles away, but that night I am going to get closer to the race and take transportation out of the equation for race day.

I have an easy five miler today, so that should be nice in this weather.

Taper Time!!!

Well, the hardest physical part of the training is done now that I finished my 22 miler yesterday. The fun of the taper starts now. I understand that it can be mentally challenging to reduce your miles as the race approaches, but I don't think it will bother me.

I am a little worried because I am not sure if I could have gutted out an extra 4.2 miles yesterday if I had to. Hopefully the taper will re-energize my legs some and I will survive the race. I also hope that being in a crowd and not being alone will give me some added adrenalin. Off today and an eight mile recovery run tomorrow. I'll be interested to see how that eight miles feels....

Now I am going to have to make some decisions:

1) Do I want to carry some fluids and snacks with me or rely on the course aid stations?

2) What kind of menu am I going to eat heading into the race.

OK, I'm back.....

Well, training was going pretty well. I got my first twenty miler in two weeks ago and felt great. Then I did my normal mid-week running and felt great. Then at the end of the week I started really feeling a sinus infection coming on. It hit me hard on the weekend and I bailed on my long run that Sunday. I got two midweek runs in last week while recovering and then got my scheduled 15 miler in today.

The good news is my body felt great on the long run. The bad news is that I was pretty well gassed at the end. I think that running late in the day didn't help, I normally run early. I also think that I still have a little hangover from my sinus infection. I hope to have a good week of running leading up to my 22 miler next Sunday.

I cannot believe that 28 days from now I will be a marathoner. I still question my ability to finish, but if I get through the 22 miler I will feel pretty good about making it after a nice taper in my training.

Now for my current dilemma, my shoes are creeping up on the end of their life cycle. I am sure I could run in them through the marathon, but I really think I need to get a new pair. I guess I should just get the same thing since they have done well during training. Saying that, I am a sucker for new shoes and I have only bought the same pair of shoes I previously had on one occasion.

I guess with the big day looming, I should play it safe and I probably will.

No time to run, so I guess I will blog!

It has been a while. It isn't intentional, just been very busy with school starting, marathon training and young son's football practice. Oh yeah, I have a job too!

The good news is that I got through my first 18 miler this week. I was scheduled to run it on Sunday, but we didn't get home from the Clemson game (Go Tigers!) until late Saturday night and I decided to use Monday as my long run day.

That was a good plan, I was going to take Tuesday off (short 4 mile recovery run scheduled) and jump back in today... Well, another late night last night and I didn't get up early enough to run. No time and lunch and then no time after work either. So, my new plan is 8 tomorrow and and 10 on Friday. Take Saturday off and go for the big 20 miler on Sunday. That will be a test.

I have been very happy with my training so far. I was struggling early on, but then I just decided to give up any hope of being fast during the summer. Once I let go of that (am I zen runner yet? Nahhhh) I was able to just focus on the distance. Other than my two dog rescues, the runs have been pretty uneventful. That said, I do need to admit that my new nickname might be Linus... You see, I have been carrying a security blanket of sorts with me on my long runs. On my last two long runs, 14 and 18 miles respectively, I have put my new iPod Shuffle on and headed out the door. I have never turned it on though! I don't know why really.... Well, I do like to let my mind wander some early in a run and just see where that goes. I love having it with me, because I always know that if I start focusing on pain or fatigue it is right there to be a distraction. However, I haven't turned it on. Well, I have used it on some short runs where I knew I wasn't going to run into any issues. On the long ones it is kind of like a secret weapon that I am holding onto just in case I start losing the battle. It is my last ditch, nuclear option to pull through to the end. How weird is that? I think Sunday I am going to turn it on from the beginning.... Well, I need to make sure I have four hours worth of music on it first!

Zoe and Leonard save the day....

I was out on a 14 miler yesterday and doing pretty well... I had decided that I didn't want to double my 7 mile loop, so I stopped off at the neighborhood elementary school and did three miles on their track to add some miles and prevent a double loop. As I came off the track and headed down a side street, I heard the sound of paws coming up behind me. I know most of the dogs on my path and get along with them. Even the little chihuahua that likes to scare the fool out of me by sneaking up on my heel and then barking... I wasn't used to any dogs in this area, so I looked back to see what kind of trouble I was in. Well, I saw a ferocious pekingese coming up behind me.

The first thought I had was that I must really be a sorry runner if a dog with 3 inch legs is going catch up with me. After I got over the deflation of that reality, I started laughing thinking about what would be going through people minds when they saw a 6'3" guy running with a pekingese keeping up stride for stride. After about a 1/4 of a mile I started to get worried that the dog wasn't going to go home. So, I stopped and picked it up and looked at the tag. Fortunately it had an address on it, and a name. I carried my new friend Zoe back to her house and found a crowd of kids out looking for her. All that took my mind off the run and kind of re-energized me.

Well, at about mile 12.5 I came across another runner that I had seen at the beginning of my run. He and I were now going the same direction. He was very encouraging and stayed with me for about 1/2 mile before he turned off towards his house. Leonard left me with some encouraging words and I waddled along until I hit the 14 mile mark. It ended up being a very pleasant run and I hope that next week's 18 miler will be the breakthrough I need for my confidence. Zoe sure seemed to think I was a good runner, now I just need to convince myself!

Long run tomorrow....

I have a 16 miler scheduled for tomorrow and a 5 miler today. I'm not sure I will get the 5 miler in because we were at football all morning and now we have stuff to do around the house. I haven't missed any runs so far, so we will see if I squeeze it in or not.

The 16 miler is going to be tough. I still don't have my route down yet, so I need to figure that out. I hope to get up early and run it before church tomorrow. It is hard to believe we under 10 weeks until the marathon. 10 weeks sounds like a long time, but when I realize I have runs of 16, 18, 20, 20 and 22 coming up it seems like time is flying by.

Well, I need to go charge up the iPod... I don't want to run 2.5 hours without music!