It's All In My Head

Is it Monday yet? Seriously, can this thing just get here already? I could be the most unproductive person on earth right now waiting for the race to get here and I apologize in advance to all of my family and friends if I drive them crazy between now and Patriots Day. Supplies have been bought, hotels have been confirmed, dinner reservations have been made and spectators have been told where to watch the race. Now, I just need to get my head in order.

With allergy season here, coupled with the fact that I have the worst sinuses in the world, I'm on the cusp of having a sinus infection. I went to the Dr. last night and I now am the proud owner of an emergency script for antibiotics, on top of 3-4 over the counter items that I will use and abuse over the next few days. Good times.

There have been quite a few "Jackisms" tossed around the last few days across the blog sphere (pennies in the barn, hay in the bank, or something like that), and all of them mean the same thing: keep yourself in check for the next week, or potentially pay the price next Monday. Like everyone else, this is going to make for a long exercise in patience (something I have very little of) over the next 5+ days. Like an idiot, I momentarily contemplated running 13 miles instead of the 12 on the docket last Sunday. Fortunately, Mike convinced me to not be stupid and stick to the plan. As a result, I ended up having a really good run and felt great. I need to make sure I maintain this type of level-headiness for the next week.

It's amazing that the 26.2 miles I run next week will equate to roughly 4.8% of the almost 550 training miles I will have logged. I'm also amazed that, this being my first marathon, I've been able to stay injury-free throughout the training. It's tough to see some of the folks in the group go down and not able to participate next week due to injury. I've been in their shoes in a prior lifetime when I used to be an athlete, and it is not a fun place to be so close to a big event. I'm sure that those of us that are running will keep them in mind next Monday and wish them the best in future races.

I'm looking forward to friends and family coming out next week to see the race and cheer us on. I'm hoping and praying for decent weather and no extremes (don't mess with me, Channel 7):

"Monday: Marathon Monday and it's great running weather! Mostly cloudy with highs in the low to mid 50s. "

I'm going to get in 2 more runs this week (today and Friday) and then sit tight until Monday. Man, it's going to be a long weekend.