Last Week-end Before the Marathon

I was up at 0530 on Saturday morning. We were supposed to have a wintery mix but it appeared to be doing nothing. I did notice that it had rained over night but wasn't too worried... yet. I noticed when I was dropping a letter in the mailbox that a thin sheet of ice was starting to form. This is when I started to worry.

I met Scott and Chris at 0700. Scott and I were running 8 (turned into 9) and Chris was running 20. He is running the Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach on February 1. This would probably be Chris' last long run. By 0700, the road had gotten pretty slick. I just kept praying that I could keep my footing. Our plan was to run with Chris for 4 miles and then turn around. When we got to the turn around point, Scott and I (or maybe just me and Scott was along for the ride) decided to run the EPA hill one more time. I cursed this hill every time we ran it but I had to get one more. It's funny how that works.

We ran about 5 miles with Chris and said our good-byes and good lucks. I didn't stop my watch at the end but we were cruising. After an 8:55 opening mile, we put the hammer down. I was alittle worried because I was feeling labored the first few miles but it always takes me that long to warm up (Note to self). I quickly got into a groove and before we knew it, we were constantly running between 8:10 and 8:20 miles. I think we are golden for a 4:00 marathon.

As of now, our plan is to run the first half to 20 mile with the pace group and adjust from there. I don't want to get over confident but I think 4 hours is WAY doable based on our training.

With one week to go, it now time to look back on my training, training logs, and my blog to reassure myself that I will indeed do fine. As I always say "Trust your training". So now I need to take my own advice and "TRUST MY TRAINING".

I don't know that I will post much in this last week as I only have a 4 and 3 mile run on Tuesday and Wednesday and I depart for sunny AZ on Thursday. I will post a race report upon return.