Well, folks, today's the day we head to Cincinnati for the fun and festivities of Flying Pig weekend. I'm as ready as I'll ever be. The weather is probably not going to cooperate - and by that, I mean that it will be beautiful today and Monday, but Saturday and Sunday will be regular floodfests. I believe the forecast is calling for over 1.5 inches of rain over the weekend. How lovely! Well, as I've said before, I don't care if I have to run in the rain, as long as I get to finish my marathon.
This is my first time blogging from my iPad, and if this works well (and I don't see why it wouldn't) , I may be able to post blog updates from Cincy. Lucky you!
I think I can even post pictures using this App. Like this:
Hey look - is that a knight saying Ne? I have no idea, and it has nothing to do with running or the Flying Pig. I just wanted to see how easy it was to post a picture. As it turns out - very easy. Score!
Well, my friends, I need to do a few last-minute things before we leave, including getting my husband to stop dancing around the house to his "Get Pumped" playlist and actually get himself ready to go.
For some people, it's enough to just run a marathon. For other people, it's enough to just run a 5k. For me, neither is enough. And so this weekend I'm doing both.
Now wait. Before you wander away muttering to yourself about "freakin' crazy runners", let me explain myself! There is a method to my madness and logic to my loco. My marathon is on Sunday. I'm going to need to go for a short (3-ish miles), easy run on Saturday in order to loosen things up and get the blood flowing. Well, as it turns out, Flying Pig Weekend includes a 5k race on Saturday morning. Perfect! Even better, my good friend, Michele, will be running said 5k, so I will get to run with her. And best of all, my two other friends and my husband have also agreed to run the 5k (in addition to the other races they're already running). Does anyone have any suggestions for what we could call our 5k crew? We definitely need a name.
And in case anyone is wondering, yes, 5k finishers get a medal. So it's conceivable that I will come away from this weekend with three new medals - the 5k, the Pump N Run, and the Marathon.
And in case anyone is wondering, yes, this means I'll have to add more running gear to my packing list.
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It occurred to me last night that I completely forgot about Tuesday Tunes. DOH! So, how about Harmonious Hump Day this week? Ready? Let's begin! *sets Running playlist to shuffle*
#1 Three Doors, VAST - one of many great running tunes by VAST.
#2 Girl In The Fire, Pendulum - there's a LOT of Pendulum stuff on my Running playlist, but there's a good reason: the bpm of a lot of their songs almost exactly matches my run cadence.
#3 The Nosebleed Section, Hilltop Hoods - I bet most of you have never heard Australian hip-hop before. It's actually pretty good! This is one of my favorites - very catchy and upbeat.
So there you have it, the second installment of Tuesday Tunes, on Wednesday!
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Moving on to other news... last night was FAST, and the workout was basically the same as last Tuesday, but instead of doing 3 x 1000m repeats, I only had to do 2 x 1000m repeats. I felt good and it was a nice, short run. Afterward, I did a few strides with some of my teammates, to open up my legs and work on my form. Coach Brad asked if any of us were getting nervous, and several people giggled... well... nervously. So I guess that answers that question.
But I think Coach Brad is getting a little nervous himself, as he is also running a marathon this weekend. He ran past me during the warmup yelling "Oh my god, the marathon is this weekend!" And then he refused to do the backward lunges in the dynamic warmup, for fear of injuring himself. (And to be fair, the backward lunges were kind of scary, especially on that uneven pavement) He won't tell us his time goal for the marathon. Although he did mention something about "under 3 hours". Huh. Funny. That's usually my goal for a HALF marathon. (Okay, okay, I'm exaggerating slightly)
It's interesting to note that several of my FAST teammates have big races this weekend. Most of them (my coach included) are running the Illinois Marathon in Champaign. I've heard that's a great marathon, but the fact that it finishes on the University of Illinois football field automatically precludes me from ever running it. As a Purdue alumni, I'm pretty sure they would throw tomatoes at me. Which would be okay, because I would throw them right back. But I digress... I want to wish each and every one of my FAST teammates the best of luck in their races this weekend - Kick some asphalt!
Well, folks, it's finally here. Marathon week. If you look over there ----> at the countdown clock, you'll see that it's less than 5 days now. At this moment, 5 days from now, I will be done with my marathon (if all goes well, that is).
Remember my discussion on Taper Madness? Well, Marathon Week Madness is a subset of Taper Madness - a more acute, more panicky, crazier subset of Taper Madness. See, I'm still tapering. But instead of thinking about my random aches and pains, and wondering if I'm losing my ability to run long distances, I find myself thinking, instead, about race preparation, and what-if scenarios. "Oh that's a good thing! It's good to be prepared," you say. Ha! It's one thing to be prepared. It's another thing entirely to be obsessive.
The first element of Marathon Week Madness is the packing list. There's nothing unusual about making a packing list before going on a trip, right? But what if said list looks like this:
Running Gear
CW-X Shorts
CW-X Capris
CW-X Long tights
Runner's World Challenge short-sleeve shirt
Pink Nike sleeveless shirt
Purple Adidas tank top
Black arm sleeves
Injinji rainbow toe socks
Under Armour socks
Green Nike shoes
Grey Nike shoes
Large amphipod (fanny pack)
Small amphipod
Road ID necklace
Garmin watch
iPod armband
Earbuds
Under Armour black sports bra
Nike white sports bra
black headband
pink headband
Adidas windbreaker
sunglasses
Sharkies
Bonk Breaker bars
Oatmeal, cinnamon, raisins, bananas, and green tea bags
Lucky Harry Potter mug
Non-running stuff
Clothes
Toiletries
Might I mention that we'll be in Cincinnati for a whole weekend. I will be running for less than 10% of the total time we'll be there. And yet nearly 95% of my packing list is extremely detailed running-related gear. Well, in my defense, all the experts say you need to show up to the marathon prepared for all possible conditions!
And speaking of race conditions... that brings us to Marathon Week Madness element #2. The weather. Despite all of my best attempts, I cannot control the weather. Indeed, it seems as race day approaches, the weather controls me. I have been checking the extended forecast since late last week. It is not good. Not good at all. The entire weekend will be cloudy and rainy. Which, by itself, is not bad. In fact, that's decent marathon-running weather (as long as it doesn't rain hard). But for Sunday, race day, the forecast calls for thunderstorms. As we all learned in grade school, thunder is caused by lightning. And as we all learned in race director school, lightning equals a canceled race. My number one fear for this race is not that I won't be able to finish the distance. It's that's I won't even get the chance to finish the distance.
It is a rare occasion for a marathon to be canceled. But it does happen. Just last weekend the Nashville Country Music Marathon was ended early due to severe weather. Over half of the people who showed up to run the full marathon were unable to finish the distance, and were diverted to either the half-marathon course, or a 20 mile course. For anyone who poured their heart and soul into 4+ months of training and was told they couldn't finish, it must have been simply devastating. But I guess it's better to not finish a race than it is to get struck by lightning. Marginally. Maybe. Frankly, I think I'd be willing to take my chances with the lightning. I just hope Mother Nature cuts us a little slack this weekend so that I don't have to bust out my mad lightning-dodging skills. If the weather does cause race-day difficulties, I guess I can drown my sorrows in a Graeter's brownie sundae.
Which brings us to the final element of Marathon Week Madness: food. I think about food a lot under normal circumstances. But during marathon week, I must plan my food with great precision. When we get to Cincinnati, I will know where we are eating, what I am ordering, and when we are eating for pretty much every meal. Obsessive? Maybe. But food is fuel and I intend to fuel up on high-octane stuff before my race. I have mapped out all the restaurants and how to get to them from the hotel. I have looked at menus online to decide what I will be ordering. And perhaps most importantly, I have decided what indulgent and delicious meal to have for the post-race victory dinner. That particular meal is not about high-octane fuel, but about gluttony, pure and simple. After all, it wouldn't be a Flying Pig marathon without an appropriate post-race pig out. *oink oink*
But I can't really think about the post-race meal just yet, because I have a bunch more stuff I still need to add to the Running Gear section of my packing list....
