The Prep

17 hours 'till the marathon. I'm so nervous of screwing up something that I couldn't even decide what to have for lunch -- nothing too greasy, nothing too spicy, nothing with dairy, nothing with beans... I ended up having chicken teriyaki with rice. And some chocolate -- dark chocolate is suppose to be good for blood pressure, I read recently. And certainly I need to keep my blood pressure under control right now. It's all in the name of health.

I thought the only thing that might calm me down is to document the prep. Also I was inspired by this photo, and figured I should do something of the same.

So, I decided that I'm going to wear exactly what I wore for my 21-mile run for the marathon -- everything has been battle-tested.

Our training group will have 2 separate aid stations, in addition to the aid stations provided by the marathon planners. This is nice because then I wouldn't have to jockey other runners for a spot at the water table. I also wouldn't have to carry all the gels with me -- I carried 4 packets of gel for my 21-miler and I could have sworn they were weighing me down! Today's the last day I can stop by Eugene Running Company to drop off my stuff for the aid stations. There is one bin for each station. To show how anal I am, I have shown 10 packets of Gu neatly separated into two zip-lock bags, annotated with my name. I really don't think I'll need any more than 5 packets. But just in case. It doesn't hurt to have more. I also purchased two bottles of water, one for each station. This is not just *any* regular water. This is "Smart" water, for smart people. I think I might be the only one who's ever taped her business cards to bottles of water -- but hey, I didn't have markers, and I needed someway to mark that the water bottles are mine. When I put my water in the bin though, I realized that I wasn't the only one with creative ways of marking their own bottles. Bob has decided to put highway signs on his bottles so he can spot them a mile away!

I have had foot pain for the past week and a half, and it all started when I wore these really cute leopard print flats to school. They just didn't have much support, gave me blisters, and caused me to overstretch the arch on my left foot. Dammit. That's the last time I try to look cute before a marathon! People say it may be plantar fasciitis. God I hope not! I've been icing and eating aspirin and it still hurts somewhat. But certainly much better than it felt last week. I think the adrenaline will push me through. Either way, I'm doing this thing.

The coach told us that we need some sort of mantra, something that we can say to ourselves when the going gets tough -- and it will -- to push us through. She said we need to come up with something before hand, because we won't be able to during the marathon. So I thought, well, how about this:

"I've trained for 4 months for this thing. For 18 consecutive Saturdays -- okay fine I've missed a couple when I had a little too much to drink on Friday's -- but for the most part, I've gotten my ass out of bed at 5:45am, so I can make my latte, eat my banana, and get myself to the store to run at 7am. And after all this, I really only have 4.5 more hours to enjoy the fruit of my labor. If I want to do this again, I'd have to train for another 18 weeks. So however tough it is, I should savor it, because it'll be over very fast."

So, yeah... I, too, am realizing that it's a bit long for a mantra. I think the coach had something shorter in mind. Something that can be repeated over and over again. Something like, "one foot in front of the other". And I suspect that at mile 21, when my thighs are feeling like they're in labor, and at that moment, if I tell myself to "savor the fruit of my labor", I'm going to have a strong urge to tell myself to shut the hell up. So I'm strongly considering revising my mantra... Christoph said I should picture myself punching somebody. I honestly don't have anyone I want to punch. Although, it's highly possible that I might at mile 21...