Anticipation

Busy weekend..Mary has a field trip and sleepover Fri night...Robbie's doc appt Saturday...oh..and what's that on Sunday???

T-4 days!! Talk about anticipation.

I've been checking the weather every day and getting more and more nervous about race day. The weather started out perfect - mid-50's and partly cloudy. What made me nervous about that was that if it was forecasted to be THAT perfect 9 days out, it was inevitable that it would somehow change.

And it did. Sidenote - I really need to learn how to do screenshots for the blog so I can be all cool and put in the screenshot of the weather.com forecast!

So now it is forecasted to be 67 and sunny with 0% chance of rain. And Monday is supposed to be 75, which means that it's possible that it'll be THAT warm on Sunday. Most of you are probably thinking "what's the problem, Kim? 75 and sunny is an absolutely perfect day!" And yes, yes it is. It's a great day for doing many things outside - like perhaps SPECTATING a marathon. However, when you are preparing to run/walk for over 6 HOURS, 75 is a freakin HEAT wave! It's only 10 degrees cooler than the weather during the Cleveland Marathon that was "red flagged" by the end of the race.

(Red flagged is when it becomes hot enough that they feel the need to warn people of the risks of continuing. Black flagged is when they completely stop the race and you are DONE no matter where you are - including within a mile from the finish)

Cue some more freaking out! Sure. It'll be what it is. I'll be fine. A lot of my training runs were done in the heat. Yadda Yadda. But, it's inevitable that I'll freak out about something leading up to the marathon - so this is it! Of course, this is also screwing up my outfit choice. Now I have to rethink what I'm going to wear. No biggie though. I will make no new changes before the big day so I will only choose from things I have trained in.

It is absolutely crazy that this day is almost here. I've been thinking about and training for this day since (at least) March! Were there things I would have done differently throughout my training? Absolutely. Have I learned things for the future (whatever that may be)? Of course! Am I proud of myself for all that I have accomplished? AbsoFRICKENlutely! I am more and more confident that I will cross that finish line in less than 7 hours (the official cutoff). I secretly would like to finish in under 6:30...totally doable since my average pace for my 21 mile run was around 14:28 min/mile. They say that you "should" train slower than you actually race. So, perhaps I have some hope that my average for the race can be closer to a 14 min/mile...and that would amount to a finish just over 6 hours. BUT! Having said all that...I am going to embrace my FINISH no matter what time! As long as I cross that finish line before 6:59:59 I will have completed my first marathon! And I am fairly confident I can do that - no matter what the weather.

I just like to think of it this way..the slower I do my "first" marathon, the easier it makes it to PR at my next one! ;) HA! That's a joke....kind of. I have no idea if or when I might attempt this crazy goal again!