Night before 26.2

We are completely ready for tomorrow. We are finally relaxed, we feel confident and we are about to get the best sleep ever. Everything is set out, alarms set and the car has gas! All we have to do is wake up and go. We are waking up a little after 5:00am and hopefully, we get to the shuttle before 7:00am. After we get this one under our belts, I'm sure all the butterflies and uncertainties we've had will be a little more settle. We are both extremely hyped for tomorrow but neither of us knows exactly what to expect. Except pain!

There are 30,000 runners are registered for this Inaugural race. The news just said it's a record for the Rock 'n' Roll series. Truly, a historic event for us! This is going to be a huge event and I'm still not sure how they are going to get everyone through the streets, especially by the Alamo. Before I leave, for the two or three people who follow this blog, if you would like to follow us tomorrow, please go to Live Results at http://www.rnrsa.com/home.html. The Live Result tab is located at the top center of the page. Type in our first and last name or our bid numbers 16140 (L) or 16141 (A) to track where we are. We take off around 7:30 and we are expected to finish around noon. Wish us luck!

Thursday, 10.13 - 3 miles: Last Run

Last night was our last run before the marathon. We finished strong and as always, holding hands! Today is packet pick up. We head to the Expo to get our bib number, free t-shirt (the real reason why we do these types of events) and some other swag. Later tonight we finish our training by doing a two mile walk with our dogs and then we rest. As always, I’ve gone over and over in my head to ensure we have everything down to the last detail. We have directions to parking and we have our alarm clocks and back-up clocks set, check. It says the weather on Sunday morning will be in the low 40s. To keep us warm, we’ll wear throwaway long sleeve thermals and a toboggan, check. We need to get some extra Vaseline to rub down all over us to prevent chaffing and blisters as well as some band aids to cover my nips so they don’t bleed while wearing the thermal, check. Laura has a big smile and reassures me that we’ll finish, check.

Saturday will be spent relaxing and thinking nothing of the race. We plan on renting some movies, eating some carbs, get the oil change, see Laura’s parent’s new Great Dane and most importantly, relax. As far as after the race, we aren’t sure how well we will feel. There is free food, live music and 80’s rock legend, The Cult, is playing Sunday night. We both plan to take part in all of this but it all depends on how we feel. Monday is the day we’ll be hurting the most. We’ve both taken off from work and we plan on getting a massage. Next to finishing, the massage will be the second biggest reward! They say, after a marathon you should rest one day for every mile. For the first week, we’ll do no running after which we’ll slowly return. If we feel okay, then it will be time to start training for the next one!

Sunday, 11.10 - 11 miles: Got my new shoes on

Friday, we left volunteering at Saddle Light Center, a therapeutic horse back riding organization, at 7:30pm. We were scheduled to run three miles but felt it was too late, so we decided it would be best to mix it with our Sunday’s eight mile run. Saturday afternoon I went and bought a new pair of running shoes to replace my worn out ones. My old Glycerin 5 shoes started to make a squeaking sound and were pretty cashed. Don’t read too much into this but we’ve both put 355 miles on our shoes just training for the marathon and it’s suggested that you replace your shoes every 300-500 miles. I went with the Glycerin 6 but within the first 3 miles of Sunday’s run I discovered they had a more defined arch which gave a shoelace like feeling right at the arch of my foot. Since we were exactly a week away from the marathon, we thought it was best to stop the run and go replace them. I ended up getting the Defyance which is a bit lighter but still a neutral shoe.

Laura had bought a new pair of shoes prior to the marathon but they got stolen at the gym. So she ran in her old shoes which easily had well over 500 miles, plus were a few years old – just goes to show how strong of a runner she is! She finally replaced her running shoes on week 6 and will need to replace them before the next marathon. We have a love/hate relationship with buying gear. We always seemed to get over whelmed by what is worth buying and what is not. I usually stick to a few simple guidelines (i.e. what Laura will allow me to get away with) but really in the end, it takes experience to know exactly what works and what doesn’t.