Countdown to Providence

And, I'm back!

I'm not going to lie - the last few weeks have been rather interesting.  With work travel to Montana and Michigan and having to address a few issues when I returned to DC, I haven't had much time to sit down and write.  Thankfully, things have calmed down a lot and I feel a heck of a lot better than I did last week. 

Just in time too -- because the Cox Sports Marathon is four days away!

For whatever reason, I'm more anxious about this race than I have been for any other marathon.  I spent part of my afternoon thinking about all the things that could go wrong before and during the race, which wasn't productive at all.  But, it forced me to start making a mental list of everything that I need to pack and things I need to do before leaving for Providence. 

I also started to think more about my strategy for the race.  Ideally,  I'd like to finish this race in 4:15:00 or faster.  Looking back at Philadelphia, I definitely started too fast and was pretty wiped by Mile 18, which is when the frequency of my walk breaks increased.  For Providence, I'm going to try to run negative splits (a revolutionary idea, I know).  I should be able to handle running the first 13 miles at about a 10:00 pace and then pick up to 9:00 miles in the second half of the race.  It sounds manageable, and I should be able to reach my time goal if I stick to the plan.

The race will be a lot of fun.  I just need to calm down, trust my training, and focus on the present. 

It's the final countdown, folks!

Going for Speed: Weekly Round-Up (11)

Cue the final countdown!

I feel confident that I’ve trained well enough to run a fantastic race on Saturday. I had no trouble reaching my intended pace during my runs this week, and I felt comfortable sustaining that pace.  Hopefully, I'll be able to do the same on Saturday.

Week 12’s workouts are very light, and I will not obsess about my pace at all.  This week's runs are more for my own enjoyment.

Monday: Cycling/Yoga

Tuesday: 4 miles

Wednesday: 3 miles

Thursday: Yoga

Friday: Rest

Saturday: National Half Marathon! 

Sunday: 3 miles

By the way, I’ve been working out what I want my goals for April, May, and June since I won’t have long races planned until the fall.  (I finally got around to making decisions, and the plan is to run two half-marathons and one full-marathon!) The full plan is to come.  Stay tuned! 

Less than 36 hours left

I have a little less than 36 hours to go, and I have so many feelings -- excitement, fear, anxiety. I love all of it. My bag is almost packed. I'm ready for this!

Look for a pre-race post tomorrow. Until then, I'll direct you all to this site, which will allow you to track my on-course progress and see the results of the race:

http://results.active.com/pages/page.jsp?eventLinkageID=16773

By the way, if anyone wants to be at the finish line ready to play any version of this theme from the Final Fantasy series at the moment I drag myself across the finish line, I would certainly appreciate it.

Seriously.

7 Days and Counting....

I booked my hotel reservation. This is it. This is real. (Well, I suppose that this has always been real. It just feels more real now that I'm starting to make concrete plans to travel to Baltimore.)

One week to go. It's the final countdown!