The Week of the Race

This is it.  The last week before the race.  I'm not sure I can adequately describe all the thoughts that are swirling around in my head.  I think mostly I'm concerned about two things.  Will I be able to get enough sleep this week, and what am I going to eat the night before, the morning of and during the race?  I'm pretty confident that I will finish.  20 miles was very difficult, but it was cold, I demolished my entry way that morning and framed a couple of walls, and it was later in the day.  I think I do my best running in the mornings.

I got a text from Dave on Saturday morning as I was sitting in class.  He told me that he went out to run 8 miles and only made it 3 and then had to walk .6 and then he was just done.  I thought he was messing around, so I made fun of him and told him that good runners need to have short memories like defensive backs and shooters, but it turns out that he was serious.  He came out and ran 4 with me that night and was fine, but it did get me thinking that I might not be ready.  I left Dave at 4 and ran another 4 and felt pretty good, but my knee started to hurt and my left foot started aching and really everything that has ever hurt during a run kind of flared up on me.  I think it's all in my head though.  Sunday morning, none of those things really bothered me and today (Monday) I feel really good.

I haven't lost a pound in the 16 weeks that I've been training.  I may be the only person in history to stay at the same weight during marathon training.  I actually thought I was getting fatter until I weighed in yesterday morning at exactly 197, which is what I weighed back in November.  I do feel heavy though, so I did a cleanse yesterday and a salt water flush last night.  I'll spare everyone the details of the flush, but if you've never tried it I highly recommend it.  The thing I like most about cleansing is the fantastic sleep I get.  I went to bed at 9:30 last night and slept like a baby until my alarm went off at 6:20 this morning.  If I can do that every night this week, the race will be a whole lot easier.  I've got an easy three miles to go tonight and a 2 mile walk on Thursday and then the race on Saturday.  I'm really excited to get it over with so I have a little more time to do other things.  Running long distances takes way too long.