Countdown

I can sum up the past 20 days by stating that my training has been more consistent than my blogging. Good thing.

Before I even recap the last, wow, almost month now - I must begin by addressing the fact that the race is four days away. 4 days, 11 hours, 8 minutes and five seconds to be exact, but who's counting? I am somewhere between anxious and confident, probably more anxious. People keep asking me if I am ready, and I tell them the truth, I have no idea. They think I am being coy or modest (clearly not people that know me), but the reality is that I really have no idea.

20 Miles

I did finally conquer the 20 mile run. Caroline and I went out the week after the miserable 18 miles. We started at 5:30 in the morning at mile marker 27.5 (by the Carolina Bros.) and were going out 10 west and back. I did everything right the week leading up to the run, and was almost looking forward to it, until the alarm went off at 5:10 in the morning. It was cold, not raining but enough moisture in the air to make the cold seem colder, yet what was most startling was how dark it was. By the time we were a half mile in there was absolutely no light coming from anywhere, even the moon and stars were covered by the clouds. The only motions, the only sounds, came from us. Caroline's husband set up a water stop for us at mile 7 (so also mile 13), which was so nice - he brought us Gatorade, pretzels, sport beans - definitely a welcome stop. We were making really good time, and I knew from the point that we hit mile 8 that I was good for the 20. Miles 8 through 10 was one gradual yet grueling hill past Leesburg toward Purcellville, Caroline warned me. At first I thought, no big deal, but seriously after like a mile of never ending hill it gets a little obnoxious. Funny enough, when we turned around and ran back down that hill it felt flat. At about mile 16 we started working in walking intervals, but I felt that I didn't need to, which is good. We finished in 4 hours and 7 minutes (I think).

Iwo Jima
The last Team in Training group run was at the Iwo Jima memorial in Arlington, which is basically where the marathon starts and stops. We ran 8 miles, the last four of which are the same as the last four of the marathon. Caroline was not there, so I ran it alone, and probably started too quickly. Still though, it was a comfortable run. The course ran next to Arlington National Cemetery and then along the Potomac River with the DC landscape across the water. I hope that I am able to relax and enjoy the run on race day like I was able to do during this training run. Oh, and my big lesson on this day, I would rather pee in front of everyone or on myself or on myself in front of everyone, before I ever use a porta-potty in Gravelly Point Park again. I think I am going to puke in my mouth from thinking about it. Dry heave pause. Seriously.

Final Run
Last Sunday was my final training run. It was supposed to be 6 miles, on our own, there was no group run. I borrowed my son's IPod (which is about 23 versions newer than mine, oh, and he knows how to put songs on it unlike me), and started out on my last Sunday run before the race. When I got to the turn around point I decided I would go out for an extra half mile, for 7 total. And when I got to that mile marker I decided to go out for one more half, for 8 total. It felt good. It was cold, but my legs warmed up about 1.5 miles into the run. The bonus was that I was incapable of changing songs on his IPod, and thus was forced to listen to an entire "Hollywood Undead" album, which was not nearly as bad as I expected it to be when I spent 5 minutes trying to run and simultaneously figure out how to skip songs.

And then I was done. This week will consist of a couple of very short runs, no cross training, and a lot of carbs (yeah) and Gatorade. 4 days 10 hours 7 minutes and 15 seconds.