the day before a marathon

Before my first marathon, I was surprised to feel all the emotions that come with the preparation of running 26.2 miles. My nerves were shaking, my adrenaline was pumping, I had dreams about running the course that was etched into my mind...I didn't expect this. It's just running. It had been a daily activity for the past 18 weeks.

And now, I'm getting those same feelings. The excitement surrounding the packet pick-up, the finish line events, even waking up at 5:45am on a Sunday. All of these things with the common denominator of running four hours (crossing fingers I get less than that tomorrow) straight! It's a crazy time we live in.

I spent Friday trying to drink every last bit of water in my line of sight. The problem is...I strongly cannot stand drinking water. The only exceptions to this statement are when I just ran a bunch of miles and feel like I will die without it right then and there, or when it's all frozen in cube-form and floating in my cocktail.

So, to honor my body and try to show it a little respect for the upcoming torture I'm going to put it through (I'm only saying torture because I haven't ran more than 6 miles in 7 weeks. It might freak out on me a little), I bought 3 different kinds of coconut water: peach mango, pineapple, and orange. Peach mango was definitely my favey, with orange coming in second and pineapple being a far behind "yeaaah, maybe never again."

The said thing is, as much as I love fruit, I love chocolate much more, which is why chocolate coconut water will always beat all other flavors. No contest.

I've also been loading up on lentils, fruits, veggies and Mexican food so my energy stores can be in tip-top shape come tomorrow. There have also been some chocolate squares in there as well, no duh.

The above e-mail I sent to myself and Scott to make sure we're both on the same page. The race is about an hour away and we won't have time to get over there today to pick up my race packet, so I want to make sure we get there nice and early to get all my ducks in a row (line? How does that saying go?).

And yes, McDonald's coffee is an absolute must, with its badass $1 any size price.

As I've mentioned, my #1 goal is to finish this race, free of pain. With my training being so rudely interrupted I don't have any PR hopes. All I want is for this knee of mine to behave so I can enjoy the b-a-a-Utiful trail that connects Sequim to Port Angeles. Oh, and to celebrate over a hearty carby meal with my people!

Have a great weekend!