Attention: I apologize slightly for the randomness of this post. You see, I've been practicing doing everything in 9 minute increments to prepare for my SUB 4 finish on Saturday, so clearly my brain can only fire in quick 9 minute flashes as well. ;)
Kudos and threeve bonus points to Bree and Sarah who were brilliant enough to get my sweet Will Ferrell SNL Jeopardy! skit quote. There was a time in college (really a full semester and a half) where Will Ferrell's Best of SNL dvd was playing on a loop in our dorm room.
This weekend I was the laziest runner girl tapering for a marathon in the history of the world (bold statements... I LOVE EM!) Seriously, I went from Thursday to Saturday without a run. It was a pretty easy decision given the dark/cold/gloomy/rainy/windy conditions. And likewise, the taper crazies have been lifted as well. I (and mostly KK) am/are seriously beyond thankful for that. KK cracked a joke that I should never plan to run a marathon while pregnant, because the crazy hormones from pregnant plus the lose-your-mind insanity of the taper would cause me to end the world. I told him to shut up and stop joking about me being knocked up. So that's that.
Go figure, I was rewarded for slacking off on my runs all weekend with a gorgeous sunshiny day on Sunday. Ignore the fact that it was 20-30 mph winds throughout, that's just come to be expected, ya know? (working on my Canadian/Fargo-ian accent for next weekend!) I did 8 slow-ish miles for my last long run. During the last mile I was bored so I did some 100 m. stride/pick ups to keep me from falling asleep on my feet.
Sounds like the plan for the expo on Friday is to be there in the 2-2:30 range. This gives us 30 minutes of potty breaks en route to the great north. This will probably not be enough. Neat. Let me know (if you haven't yet) if you want to meet up with me and Miss Megan!
And finally (as if this post weren't random enough), I have a fun little poll for you guys. Except it's not truly a poll at all, but merely a question that I hope you will answer via comments or tweets. When do you typically start to doubt yourself and your finish goal time in a marathon? My thoughts: I'm hoping your responses will calm me and prepare me for when those doubts creep up on Saturday, and I'm able to say (in my head of course, because I don't want to be that creepy girl talking to herself while running a marathon), "Well [insert super fast runner friend here] wanted to give up at [insert mile marker here] and didn't and went on to run [insert super fab-o marathon time here] so suck it up and sub 4!" Annnnnnnnnnnnd go!
8 comments:
i start to doubt myself hardcore in the week or so leading up to the race. last friday night i had a full-out I CAN'T DO THIS IT'S TOO FAR meltdown before my 70.3. sigh.
I start to doubt myself as soon as I begin to taper, always. At around mile 3 in the Cleveland Marathon last year, I doubted whether I could keep up with the 3:40 pace group. I ended up finishing in 3:37:04!!!! You will do great! Just try to relax and lock into your pace! Good luck!
#1 - we are going to tie our legs together and finish a three-legged marathon in sub 4. That way neither of us can slow down/speed up without the other.
I have had some negative thoughts creep into my head in the last few days, but I have been generally optimistic. As long as the wind isn't too bad, I think I should be able to remain optimistic until mile 20.
At that point, I am going to treat myself to a jelly bean every half mile for the last 6 miles while counting to 100 over and over and over again. Seriously. That is my plan for the last 10K. Want me to bring some extra jelly beans for you??
It looks like it's gonna rain that morning, so I hope you are used to that! I don't know if I'm going to be at the expo at that time, but if I am, I'll look around for ya!
Round about mile 20 I really start doing the math in my head far too frequently, but I think it's less of a doubt thing than a fatigue thing. I really think you're going to rock a sub-4 in Fargo. You're definitely prepared and seems like you're largely healthy. Just don't get too pumped up and go out too fast and you've got it. Good luck with the race, I'll definitely be sending some positive mojo your way.
I guess I'm like most everyone else. I've already started questioning my goal time but during the run it's about mile 15-ish.
At that point I'm in it far enough to have a solid average pace per mile. Plus I'll know how much I am +/- my goal time and it will give me (hopefully) enough time to do some self-corrections to catch up if needed.
But that's not going to be something you are going to need to do because you are going to nail your goal pace (oh and by the way, if you pass me, I expect you to carry me to the end... please!??!?!? :)
Girl you've got this! Believe in the awesome that is Jeri!!! You trained hard and your WILL reap the rewards! Good luck chica! I am so excited for you!
You've got that sub-4 in the bag! Good luck this weekend!
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