With the marathon less then a week away attention has shifted from lots of running to the last minute details. Here are some of the things I've been focusing on this week.
I've been working with Rick to develop a pacing plan to allow me to hit my time goal. I start off slow to warm up, run the middle miles slightly faster and then fade a little towards the end. Rick has expressed an interest in running with me and I'm looking forward to the company. I'm hopeful that with his help I'll learn how to run a better race.
I've done a mental walk though of the course. Having the same course as last year has helped with this as well as having a video drive through. I've spent some time looking at the route and thinking about each place it passes as well as how I felt last year in those places. Hopefully I can learn from my mistakes last year and have a better event this year.
Looking at the extended forecast. As of right now it's looking warm and rainy. Not what I'd hoped for, but at least I have some time to get used to the idea of running with wet feet.
Figuring out last minute workouts. I want to keep active, but don't want to go into the event tired. Monday night Erin and I ran 3 easy miles. Tuesday we'll do some light biking. Wednesday we're going to do our last hard running workout before the marathon. Thursday we'll run with the group from the store, but only do a couple of easy miles. Friday will probably be a rest day.
Figuring out our situation with out of town guests and in town spectators. Erin's parents will be in town from Bismarck to see her first marathon. Also Erin's friend DeAnna will be coming from Bismarck as well. We've gotten the house cleaned up for the guests and we need to develop a plan of where to position them as well as my family around the course. We need to consider what items we might need along the way so that we can pick up stuff from them as we're running. Developing a plan to meet up after the event is another thing we'll need to take care of.
Nutrition is getting a little more focus this week as well. We've been trying to eat better all week as well as plan a menu that will work for both us and our guests the night before the race. We also need to make sure we have everything on hand that we'll want during the race. We also need to make sure we stay on top of hydration throughout the week.
We need to make sure clothing and gear is ready for the event. I've decided on 1 handheld for the race and Erin will probably use a couple of them, swapping them out as we pass family and friends along the course. We'll probably do a load of laundry later in the week so that all our workout gear is clean and we can make adjustments to whatever conditions we need to run in. We'll also need to pack clean clothes and shower stuff for after the race.
I'm being a lot stricter with my sleep schedule this week. Every day I'm getting up around the time I'm going to get up on Saturday so falling a sleep at night and waking up on time aren't an issue.
We're going to pickup packets and hit up the expo Thursday night so that we have more time with our guests Friday. This schedule will also help us stay off our feet the night before the race.
Sunscreen.
It's a lot to think about, but it definitely helps to be prepared going into the marathon. I'm optimistic that I've taken care of everything I can control and we'll just have to deal with the things we can't control. It's going to be a fun weekend.
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