The final countdown! Less than 48 hours til I run 13.1 miles!! Preparation started back in January when I decided to sign myself up to run a 1/2 marathon for the first time ever ( Yep, I'm only half crazy). I have to say I thought I would be more nervous than I am. I feel like I'm not as ready as I wanted to be, but at the same time I feel like I have come a long ways from back when I was running 1/2 mile and quitting. Just keep RUNNING, thats what I will need to keep telling myself. You can sign up to get my results immediately when they are posted Here if you want. Since its my first, my main goal is just to Finish, my second goal is to run the whole thing no matter how slow I have to do it. My roomie and I took a drive a couple mornings ago to see where the route goes...lets just say we were a little (okay, a lot) intimidated by the length and all of the hills that are there! This is the course.
I've done a few things to try to ensure a minimal stress day for the actual race day.
I checked out the website to double check times for picking up my registration packet, when & where the pasta dinner is being held the night before, any special instructions that I would need to know so that I wont' have to worry about that on Race day. This is what I found out
- I will pick up my registration packet the day before from 12-5pm
- The pasta dinner is being held downtown at the Waterstreet Cafe, from 5-7.
- The race strongly recommends against music players
- I will be running with about 1000 other runners just in the 1/2 marathon category and 500 in the marathon category .
- The Marathon starts at 715, the Half starts at 745
I'm doing some extra hydrating today and tomorrow... its always hard to drink a ton of water before a run anyway because I don't want to have to pee every 1/2 mile.
Also trying to eat healthy, but include more good carbs and protein. Now isn't the time to cut back on my calories since I will need all I can get the day of the race. I'm not overdoing it...just making sure I am eating enough.
Trying to keep the positivity up. I think a large challenge for me is being mentally ready to last for 13.1 miles! Keeping my favorite running mantras in mind, listening to some good music, a relaxing massage, kicking back at home watching a few shows has been my mental preparation so far.
A couple mantras I've added:
- Don't fear slowly moving forward, fear standing still.
- Running makes you strong.
- What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
- Strong is what happens when you run out of weak
- When your legs get tired, run with your heart
An amazing blogger that I follow, Tina at Carrotsncake.com, has an awesome post that has given me a few tips too, check it out.
I've Created a couple plans... One for the Day before:
- Set 2 + alarms to wake up early to eat 3 hours before
- Get some quality sleep friday night and saturday night (go to sleep earlier, plan to wake up early in prep)
- Take some extra vitamins-- Vit B & Vit D3 Friday and Saturday-- skip them on Race day
- Wash clothes 2 days before, set out shirt, pants, undies, shoes, blister emergency repair kit, spibelt, BodyGlide, GU Chomps, Headband, Socks, hair tie
- Make an After Race bag include: Keys, Extra set of clothes, water bottle/sports drink, snack like--Piece of fruit, cheese, chocolate milk, iced coffee, & flip flops
And One for Race Day:
- Wake up at 0400
- Eat a Breakfast of the REAL champions... :) Oatmeal with Peanut butter, Iced Coffee, Fruit & protein smoothie!16 oz of water
- Go back to sleep for a nap til 530
- Take a shower
- Have Dan pick us up at 0620 so we can make it there before 7am (leaving time for traffic)
- Get situated, stand in line for the bathroom, stretch, mentally prepare myself, etc...
WOW this seems like a lot. I'm super psyched!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment