Tomorrow is ‘long run’ day.  18-19 miles of running long.  After this run, I WILL START MY TAPER until the MARATHON!  WHAT???  My run next week is 14-15 miles.  I guess that’s a taper, right?  Man, oh man.  I’m doing this thing!

I’m only a little nervous about my run tomorrow.  I feel much better than I did last week for my 16-17 mile run.  I can either do it or I can’t.  Right now, I’m more concerned about remembering all of the little prep work that I need to do for my run.  All you do is ‘lace up and get out there’ huh?  I wish.  It takes me nearly 30 minutes to get out of the door if everything is going as planned.  Some mornings it takes me 45 minutes or an hour.  Some mornings I struggle to get it together.

Last week, I tried really, really hard to remember everything but missed some stuff, anyway.  I had some rubbing and chafing in a couple of areas where I had some history of discomfort.  I forgot to ‘prep’ those areas.  Ugh.  I’ll be paying for that mistake for a long time in the way of some unattractive scarring.  Yay.

Here’s my list:

1. charge watch and ear buds
2. freeze 1 Gatorade/1 water for hydration belt, 1 bottle will have unfrozen Gatorade
3. put fuel chews, debit card and ID in hydration belt pocket
4. lay out clothes, shoes, visor
5. force myself to go to bed on time (harder than it should be)
6. check sunrise time and set alarm accordingly
7. rub Body Glide and deodorant on all problem areas (I won’t traumatize you by listing them.)
8. eat something (I only eat before long runs so it’s not a habit and I need a reminder.)
9. loosen hair (shrinkage after my hair gets wet makes it tight and that gives me a headache)
10. take an Aleve for later… (don’t judge me)
11. decide on some ‘after run’ food so I don’t just eat whatever I see first (remember:  don’t judge me!)

So basically, this is how I’ll look in the morning 🙂

I have made peace with the fact that I cannot run the entire 26.2 miles.  No need to list the reasons, just take my word for it.  I’ve decided that I CAN run a 5:1 again (like I did Houston with the pace group).  That 1 minute seemed to be very helpful for my energy and pain level toward the end of my run last week.  I’ve found an app that beeps at the intervals so I know when to run and when to walk.  I used it for my long run last week and thought it worked well.

Last week, I made the decision to get my diet back on track.  I don’t mean so much ‘diet’ like to lose weight, I mean diet as in what I eat.  I’ve been pretty much enjoying all of the delicious things that I’ve wanted for the last few months and I KNOW my running is suffering. So, to help, I bought a kick in the rear end called DietToGo.  I picked 3 meals a day for 7 days and they mailed me individual meals packed in dry ice in a big Styrofoam container.  I got it yesterday and started the meals today.  It is real food that ‘s been flash frozen for shipment.   

For breakfast, I had egg quesadilla, potato cake and a citrus bowl.  Lunch was tomato basil soup, corn/spinach cup (which was excellent) and a probiotic yogurt drink.  I am lactose intolerant and HATE the taste of yogurt,so I didn’t drink it.

I ate 4 crackers instead.  🙂 Dinner is spinach and parm/spinach stuffed chicken breast and Italian mixed veggies with almonds.  The food has been good so far.  I will have to supplement with snacks – fresh fruit, veggies to get my calories up to where they need to be for my body/activity level.

Could I cook my own meals?  Yes.  Would it be cheaper?  Yes.  Have I been cooking my own healthy meals?  No.  Therein lies the problem.

My plan is to get the meals until my race and make a call afterward about continuing.

That’s all I’ve got.  Wish me luck on my long run in the morning.

Until next time!

TomSo,