So Here We Are

Well, my big racing debut is tonight.  The weather, it seems, is not going to be in my favor.  Rain this evening, supposedly ending by 8, isn't going to do much to lower the temperature.  According to WFTV, at 10 pm it'll be 76 with 81% humidity.  I trained in just about those exact conditions all summer, but never very well!  I was really hoping for low 70's like we had earlier this week.  This Indian Summer crap is for the birds.

I feel like I have done everything that was in my control.  Good shoes, good tunes... and hopefully the duct tape will hold up!  My belt pack is ready to go with Craisins, water, and a clip-on towel (thank you to Scott's dusty old golf bag for the last-minute addition!).  I bought an arm band for my phone, but it's uncomfortable and since I want the ability to take pictures on the course I'm just going to carry it just like I did on all of my practice runs.  If I decide not to carry it, I will store it in my bra (I have a snack size ziploc bag to protect it from sweat).

This week I was caught completely off-guard by the love and support coming from unexpected places.  Phone calls and emails from people I don't talk to often... last-minute advice and support from my "fit" Facebook friends... and one incredibly cute picture of a kid dedicated to me.  I cried at work, cried in the car, cried at home... but I think that's out of my system now.

So we're about 11 hours from the starting line right now, which means probably 14 hours until the whole thing is over.  I still think there's a chance I'm going to finish.  I also acknowledge that there's a chance I won't.  I mean, what if my feet get soaked before or during the race?  Will I be able to ignore that?  I never had to train in anything harder than a light rain.  What if I can't nap or relax enough during the day and all of that race adrenaline gets used up just keeping me awake?  What if my duct tape doesn't hold?  This is the time to just push through pain and injuries...but I'm such a wuss about my feet.  What if I just plain old didn't train hard enough?

...then you won't finish, and the sun will still come up tomorrow, and after a week of sleeping in training will start for the Princess with all those lessons learned.  And instead of a traditional smoothie at the end of this run, there will be a medal, a banana, and then whatever deep-fried crap I feel like eating.  Oh, and a party at the Studios with a bunch of villains.

Still reading?  I know, I'm rambling.  And I still have a lot to go before I forget.

I did the math a week ago, and I figure I ran about 140 miles training for this race.  Actually, of those miles I probably actually ran about 40 and walked the rest.  I'm now on my third pair of shoes in 6 months (though to be fair the first pair of shoes was probably 4 years old), my thighs have worn out 2 pairs of knit biker shorts (that go under another pair of shorts...no one needs to see my butt in a sausage casing!), and I have a whole rainbow collection of "active" shirts from Target.  And just let me say it one more time:  140 miles.

One last thing before I go.  I don't feel at all guilty about Scott waking up at 5:30 four days a week to go to the gym with me.  He needs it just as much as I do, and though we don't ever really work out together, I think it's enough that we motivate each other to get out of bed in the morning.  That said, I think that getting up at 5ish every single Saturday morning is really above and beyond the call of duty.  He drives me over to the trail, bikes behind me, listens to my whining, hands me water, worries about me, and then lets my stinky sweaty self back into his car to come home again.  And as if all of that wasn't enough, yesterday we got to the race expo to pick up my race packet, parked in the far reaches of the Sports Complex parking lot, and walked 1/2 mile in the pouring rain (uphill, both directions).  At least this whole time I've been working toward a tangible goal/reward.  He's been the damn wind beneath my wings.  So...thanks for that.  I'm pretty sure I would have fizzled long before now without the support.

OK that's it.  This blog post is inevitably going to cut into my football/napping time scheduled to start at noon.  It's going to be a long weekend, so there will be no blog posts at least until Monday... but knowing me it'll probably be longer than that.  I'm planning on sending pictures and possibly some poorly-typed words to Twitter during the race tonight, so you can keep up with me there if you want.

Wish me good luck, dry feet, and strong legs!