Slept in 'till 9:30 a.m. (7:30 a.m. M.S.T.). My race will be over half-way finished by that time tomorrow. So again, no E.S.T. adjustment but the 9.5 hours of sleep felt like heaven.
Aaron and actually ran TOGETHER today for the fifth time this year!. As we went downstairs to leave for our run we bumped into the Elite Athlete coordinator, Clay and his assistant, Steve. Clay walked us over to the race finish and gave us some race day info and directions. Just a couple of blocks from our hotel is the street that is the final few miles of the race and takes you all the way up to the finish line by the baseball stadium. The name of the street? A State that holds a special place in my heart as my homeland and stomping grounds of younger years....Eutaw. Spelled just how it ought to be spelled. :)
While walking down the quiet finishing stretch void of any spectators cheering and flailing their arms over the finish line railings my heart started pumping and I got a smile on my face as I envisioned the crowds and excitement in store for tomorrow.
Clay went into the baseball stadium for the Expo and we did a short, easy run with 4X1 minutes at marthon pace. Aaron kept commenting on how great his lungs felt and how easy 6 minute pace was. Gotta love sea-level baby!!
After our run we went to the elite athlete suite in our Hotel to get my race bib and say hi to Carolyn (good friends of the De Reuck's, she and her husband, Steve are Clay's friendly, helpful assistants). Carolyn is probably in her mid-50s and has personally run over 100 marathons!!
For lunch we walked over to the harbor and ate yummy sandwiches, took a couple of pics, and rented a bike so Aaron can pedal around on the course tomorrow and be able to take pics at multiple points along the course. As we were walking back to the hotel we bumped into two very fit, tiny ladies with matching Nike jackets (very likely my top competition for tomorrow). The conversation went something like this...
Aaron: "Hello, are you running the marathon?" Yes.
"Where are you from?" Krygyzstan. Russia.
"Have you run this race before?" Blank stare. Crinkled eyebrows. Some rambling about going to Europe.
"Well, good luck!" Good luck!
The temperature looks great for racing tomorrow morning. The start will be in the high 40s and it will get up to the mid 50s by the finish (perfect). The only thing that may affect any or all of the 2,000 marathoners and 18,000 runners in other race distances is the likelyhood of wind. Its been windy all day today and the forecast indicates steady winds all day tomorrow as well. The good thing is that there are sections of the race that go through the city with high rise buildings breaking up the breeze but it may get ugly out there on the harbor. Without knowing what kind of race pack is going to form and whether or not it will be within my pacing plan to run with a group of women, I'm hoping to at least find an unsuspecting male to tuck in behind and pray that he showered beforehand.
Ready or not, here I come! | 