A Marathon this weekend, THIS WEEKEND

I suppose some folks might be tensed up a bit over running their first marathon at the end of the week. I just don't feel any stress. I am sure there are lots of reasons for this. One of those reasons may be that I have no sense. Yet, I think the reasons are:

1. I don't plan on trying to win the thing, I only want to finish.


2. I have trained hard and can complete my goal.


3. I have done lots of races so I am pretty calm about the race day stuff.


4. I am doing this for fun

I think number 4 is the most important. I am doing this for fun. There is no need to get worked up about it. I did what I was supposed to do and I am as ready as I am going to be, so relax. It may be 26.2 miles but I get to run it one step at a time. I run one step at a time all the time, this will only be different in the duration. Even if I have to walk, I will still finish.

I am very much tapered. I will run a couple of maintenance runs this week and a two miler on Saturday just to stay loose. I will try to keep things safe during my martial arts classes this week. I usually have a tendency to train with a good deal of intensity; however, I will try to scale that back a bit this week. My only real concern is injury and illness.

I have been dealing with this left hip issue but it seems that my illness gave me more of a chance to rest and that seems fine. The illness seems to be tapering off and I should be 100% by Thursday. That should put me in a good position for Sunday. It will be an interesting weekend though.

My wife is competing in a Tae Kwon Do tournament on Saturday, she is a 2nd degree black belt. She has blazing fast kicks and regularly schools women half her age. Lately I have been taking our daughter, Emily, to see her Mom's classes. This means I have to watch as well and I have noticed how well she does. It is interesting, Tae Kwon Do is not my cup of tea, I prefer my martial arts a bit more up close. I had hoped with both her Mom and Dad being black belts that Emily might develop an interest, well not yet. She seems more interested now than she did a year ago. That said I don't want to push her to do something she has no interest in; for now it is ballet and gymnastics. Anyway, the tournament should be a fun time for her and I am happy she is going. What does all this have to do with my marathon? Well, I have to carefully find a time to drive the hour to pick up my race packet and scope out the course. I have to fit this in along with my video camera and cheer leader duties. I believe it should all be done by 2:00 p.m. so that should give me enough time.