26.2 mile line

I could freak out about the weather, the crowds, my legs, and my training. But I'm trying to trust myself, my body, my heart, and my endurance. It WILL be an exciting event and a marvelous marathon. My mind will carry the courage from family and friends and other folks.

22907

To track me while running the NYC marathon tomorrow, go to: http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/Results.htm

I will be #22907!

I'm carbo loading and have gotten plenty of sleep for the past several days. My body feels good and my mind's ready to race in New York :)

Expo

I took the train into Manhattan and managed to get myself through the hustle and bustle to the Marathon Expo at the Javits Convention Center. There, I got my race bib (#22907 in the Blue starting village) and timing chip-tag, as well as the official blue long sleeved race shirt. I snagged some samples of powerbars and gus. I also spent awhile browsing through the Asics race clothing and accessories (and ended up purchasing a cool gray long sleeved shirt-jacket with the world's softest fleeciest lining!).

Afterwards, I treated myself to a pretzel from a NY street vendor, and it was a delicious way to kick off my carbo loading :P When I wake up tomorrow morning, I'll be two days away from race day, so it's time to get excited....very excited!!

In my bag

After waking up my legs with a nice track workout of 3 X 400 (at sub 1:46!), I finished packing for the flight east. Yes, I've packed my running clothes and shoes, water belt (thanks, Jess!), hat, gloves, extra sweats for the waiting on Staten Island, socks, Garmalade, and the race information booklet. Of course, I'm also bringing my laptop and study materials....If only I could stow away Kara Goucher's abs AND speediness ;)

Whether or not

I could have also titled this post as weather or not. Ha! This refers to my obsessive spiral into weather-checking every hour or so. I have multiple sources: weather.com, accuweather, and a NYC news station. The forecasts are still unaligned and unstable. Sigh......

I also can't decide if I want to start packing yet. And, usually, we don't pack for trips till the night before or even the morning of. But the concept of flying across the country with my marathon gear is making me want to get my ducks in a row. A very tidy row. Sigh.....

And, yes, the race has gotten to close to write about the time that remains. Sigh.....

*I'm sure some of this angst will pass over me at some point!

Saturday

It was a gorgeous Saturday, and I ran 8 miles up to Piedmont and then down and around Lake Merritt! My body felt relatively good, though oddly tired. I suppose that's due to not running enough this week ;)

I did some professional grade chillaxing with Jenica at a Korean Spa in SF....There's something so heavenly and healing about time in the hot tub, cold plunge, sauna. I tried to imagine the water and sweat removing toxins from my muscles.

Finally, I worked on the marathon training plan for the Avenue race in May. As crazy as it sounds, I feel better when planning my next marathon than thinking about the one that's just around the corner!!