Monday, March 21, 2011

The Marathon Dress Rehearsal

Saturday Lynn and I ran our marathon "dress rehearsal". The day before we ate exactly how we will eat the day before the actual marathon. We have both conducted some internet research on the best pre-race diet (and as you know the internet is full of conflicting advice on every subject!), and we formulated our personal pre-race day menu. We made sure we consumed 2000 calories of cereal, pretzels, animal crackers, graham crackers, a banana, chocolate milk, a coke (yes we even found a website that said that soda was a good carb loading choice!), plus a pasta or rice based lunch and supper. We also drank lots and lots of water. I think I ended up drinking the equivalent of 6 water bottles.

The morning of the run we wore what we plan to wear on race day. The exact shirt, hat, and shorts. We tried out our new non running shorts. That's what they are called in the catalog. They are longer than typical running shorts, and are very comfortable. They worked perfectly. They have a tiny zippered pocket in the back that will hold 4 Clif Shot Gel packets (that is for carbs during the race), and we pinned more 2 gel packets inside our shorts.

Then we ran 22 miles.

It took us 3 hours, 51 minutes, not counting bathroom breaks. We stop our watches for that, but we know that during the actual marathon we will be on the clock the entire run. We are still aiming for an under 5 hour finish. I feel more confident after completing 22 miles that we can attain that, but you never know. Those last 4 miles could be brutal. We have heard all of the horror stories of the last few miles of a marathon. We are prepared. Hopeful, but mentally prepared.

This week's training will be challenging too. Our medium run is 10, and our long run is 17, but we also have a 6,6, and 5 mile run to complete too. I have really enjoyed the training runs that I have run with Lynn and other friends. Lynn's husband, Kelly has run most of the long runs with us (although he listens to music and does not visit with us girls), and our friends Yonea and Amber have joined us for our medium runs and sometimes half of our long runs. It really has been a lot of fun!

I leave you with a hilarious video to watch.


3 comments:

  1. That video is hilarious!!! I ran the Houston marathon in 2005 and the last few miles are very hard, but the crowds are amazing and they will cheer you all the way to finish line. There's nothing like it! But I'm sure you know that since you have run in races before. The crowd is what got me to the finish line. Best of luck!!

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  2. Great video! Josh and David hope to see ya'll run. Keep up the training.

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  3. Sounds like you are very prepared! That's great! What an accomplishment! :)

    Caylie and her friend ran the 1/2 yesterday, but Caylie really struggled with her ankle, and was already hurting at the 1/2 way mark, but wouldn't quit. They walked a lot in the second 1/2. Her sweet friend stuck with her the whole time. She was trying to hold back tears as she finished. Their time was just under 3 hours, and so she was really disappointed, but she is already talking about taking a break to heal up, and then redeeming herself! She is nothing if not determined, so I'm glad that she already focused on the future, instead of wallowing in the disappointment of yesterday.

    Other than that, our vacation is absolutely wonderful. We still have a few more days! I will post some about it later... :)

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