I set my alarm for 6am this morning so when I wake up at 5am tomorrow it won't be SUCH shock (yeah, I don't think it's going to do anything either). It was difficult to get up at 6am when I don't really NEED to, but I was saved when "Animal House" was just starting on tv!
Animal House: the Zaniest movie ever with a splash of "Wacky" I LOVE that movie. It is HILARIOUS, crude, old, entertaining, and just plain funny (which is starting to become hard to come by these days in modern cinema...but I digress). Point being, thank god it was on or else I most likely would have gone back to sleep. I waited until about 8am to actually be productive (although taking in some late 1970's comedy starring Wolfgang Amadeus himself ain't too bad), and left for the first Farmer's Market of the year. I got some mushrooms and spinach for tonight's pre-race pasta meal. There was a new specialty pie bakery there this year and I wanted EVERYTHING ON THE TABLE but I figured I could wait a week, until after I actually ran. It took willpower, my friends.
A little later in the morning I ran some errands for work which included a lot of driving on a perfect sunny day. I had my shades on, my music up, my windows rolled down, and I started thinking about the race (big surprise), and for the first time, I didn't feel immense panic, I felt pride and excitement. I've mentally divided up the course into 5 miles, 9 miles, 6 miles, and 6.2 miles, and picturing each separate route doesn't seem overwhelming! I was so immersed in thought that I actually teared up a little thinking about crossing the finish line. Then I realized I was about to pick up my friend (Lindsey) to help me with said errands, and I'd rather not be made fun of for my liquid eye-pride.
Later in the aternoon I headed down to the Radisson for the runner's expo to pick up my race packet (bib, chip, shirt, etc) and SNAP it was PACKED! It was kind of insane. It was tough finding a parking spot to begin with, but that was nothing compared to what was inside. This is the only marathon in the US to be happening tomorrow (for Mother's Day) so it did attract a lot of out-of-town die hard marathoners.
I stopped by Gazelle to pick up some Shot Bloks for the race last night around 4:30 since I knew they'd be busy all weekend, and I wanted to make sure they didn't run out of my flavor (orange!). To my dismay they had all the same running goodies at the expo...ON SALE! How dare they. They also had a sock sale going on (buy 3, get one free) but I couldn't bring myself to spend 3 socks worth of money. I also got a free copy of "Eat This, Not That" which is actually pre-tty cool. All in all I got some pretty nice SWAG (there was more to take, but as I get older I find myself being able to weed out the crap from the awesome swag).
On the bottom: Black mesh-ish Kalamazoo Marathon pull string backpack; Moisture-wick (awesome) white short sleeved Kalamazoo Marathon t-shirt; 410 bib number (for those of you who want to keep track of my splits and time); A bottle of sunscreen with handy carabiner A copy of "Eat This, Not That" 100% awesome I'd say it's one of my most successful restraint-showing-in-front-of-free-things outing to date. I then spent time updating my SEVEN HOUR long playlist for the run (which I've been worried about alll week, but thanks to John, I have these new tasty licks to add to the collection:
- Dan Hartman-I Can Dream About You
- Sandstorm (do we really need artist identification?)
- Cheap Trick-Dream Police
- Steve Winwood-Higher Love
- Bruce Springsteen-Born to Run
- Billy Idol-Dancing with Myself
- ABBA-Gold (yes, the album. The whole album)
- George Harrison-Got my mind set on you
- Hall and Oates (need I say more?)
- Loverboy-Working for the weekend
- and more...much more...(like 5 more hours of music more...)
Packet: check. Music: check. Outfit picked out: check. Now what is left: dinner.
So I've been thinking about my "last meal" so to speak all week, and especially all day. I've been so worried about my carb and water intake that everytime I had a pause in thoughts I'd immediately shoot a glass of water. And let me just say the trips to the bathroom have been plentiful and frequent. As a snack I also decided to eat toast with hummus since it's a nice protein/carb mix. But what for dinner...
I decided to make a nice mushroom/red onion/spinach/tomato/pasta/chicken dish, with a side of home-made sweet potato fries:
That plate of fries was for John and I. Hence the large portion. 
A close up of the pasta, for those of you who were interestedAnd let me just say that it was....well, not that great actually. The sweet potato fries were good (although a little burned, but that's my 70 year old oven's fault). The pasta wasn't bad, it just didn't really have much flavor. But hey, I ate, I hydrated, I jammed to the 80s, and now I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for the 5am wake up, breakfast, gear up, 6:30am pick up, and the 7:30am start time. (I think my stomach just flipped into my right lung)
My half marathon time from 2009 was 2 hours 12 min. If I keep that pace (which is 2 min over 10 min miles) I'll get in at 4hours 24min. I don't think that will be happening. My goal is within 5 hours, but really, anytime I get in will be achieving a goal. I just hope there is actual picture evidence this year! (no one brought a camera to my half marathon...not that anyone's counting...)
(for some reason 26.2 miles seems a lot less intimidating compared to 5 hours of running)
Ok, heart, stop pounding. And stomach, get back to your location of residence. I'm planning on TRYING to get to sleep at 10-10:30ish, so...we'll see what happens.
It's time to sign out, because my nerves are starting to come out through my fingertips on the keyboard, so I bid you adieu, and I'll talk to you after I've completed a marathon. Wow.
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