The Plan

In two-days time, I’ll actively be on the marathon course. My excitement is hybrid of that felt before a big concert and a first date. I’m giddy. I’m nervous. I’m confident that I’m going to rock, but at the same time I’m running through a list of things that could go wrong. I feel that I’m both criminally over-prepared and horribly under-prepared. This is all new.

My plan for the next few days is pretty simple. I’ve been abstaining from caffeine all week (save for a single cup a few days ago because the kids had me up and I figured it would be bad to fall asleep at the office). I haven’t had a drop of liquor since CJ’s birthday party. I’ll start “carb loading” with pasta today, which means that I’ll simply have some pasta at meals (as opposed to the “eat tons of pasta because it’s there, I’m not changing my eating habits, just choosing to eat portions of pasta instead of a sandwich or salad).

Tomorrow, outside of chores & “daddy duties,” I’ll drive over the Harrisburg to pick up my race packet. I’ll organize my running play list. I’ll drink lots of water. I’ll try to stay off of my feet as much as possible.

Sunday, I’ll wake up early and make myself a big cup of coffee. I’ll drink that with a bowl of oatmeal and a glass of water. I’ll be completely done putting liquids in my body by 7, when I’ll leave for the run.

The run starts at 8:30. The most important thing from that point forward is that I truly do not care about my time. My goal is to finish. Plain and simple – finish the run. I’ll follow my time, surely, but that will be a curiosity thing. I will finish. I will not care about my time. Maybe, if I chose to run future marathons, I’ll have a time goal – but not on Sunday. Just cross the finish line, having been powered by nothing by my own two feet.

Tapering my running this week has lead to some very interesting side effects. First off, my legs are itching to go. I mean, I can almost hear them asking me “what’s up?”. I’ve gone on two small runs this week, and that’s it. My legs are ready for something. Second, I have a true explosion of energy. I haven’t had any coffee today, yet I am “wide awake & busy tailed.” Maybe it’s just adrenaline kicking in early, but it really feels like my body is starting to say “you need to do that thing you trained for, and soon!” Of course, there’s a significant amount of excess energy in that department, too. Ahem. I shall say no more.

So, I’ll be posting as I can to Twitter and Facebook throughout the weekend. And, of course, expect at least two posts here – one with my playlist and one with a breakdown as I go.

Thank you, all, for cheering me on.