My bag is packed, and i’m ready to go .. unfortunately, I don’t have to travel anywhere since the Lehigh Valley Health Network marathon is my hometown marathon now. The starting line is about 4 miles down the road from my house at the Lehigh Valley Hospital (Cedar Crest), so no traffic concerns, no getting lost and no need to get up early (although I will anyway). The only thing left to do is to concentrate on the things that will set me up for success:

1. Keep the pace. I’m going out with the intention of running an 8:35 mile, and I believe I can maintain that for a good portion of the race since the course is pretty much flat, as long as I focus on it. If I break my PR, great, but its not my intention, just finishing is good enough. I always print up a marathon race band to wear to help me out.

2. Take it one mile at a time. This was the tag line on my blog when I first ran the Steamtown marathon back in 2006. This is important because its a all a mind game. If at mile 1, i’m thinking about getting to mile 15, thats not a good thing. I should worry about getting to mile 2, then when in mile 2, start thinking about mile 3. This has ALWAYS worked for me, I just have to keep it in my head.

3. Stay hydrated. I’ve proven to myself in my long runs that its all about hydration, so keep the water coming, even if I don’t feel like I need it (but don’t overdo it).

4. Stay fueled. I expect to use at least 2 gels tomorrow, but i’ll have 3 just in case. I know when I ran Delaware last year, that extra gel really helped, so i’d rather have it, then not have it.

5. Don’t run with people. This is sometimes kind of a selfish statement, but I found when running the Pocono Marathon and the New Jersey Marathon, that I got into conversations with people who ran faster than me, so i ended up not concentrating on my pace and running faster than I wanted to (and then struggled for awhile after). Before the race and after the race is the time for converse with other runners in my opinion.

I intend to keep with these points to set me up for success. My opinion is that the course is not particularly hard, I’ve run most of it already in one way or another, so being smart should make for a good day. Despite the rain we’ve had the last 2 days, its supposed to be nice for the race, so i’ll wear the singlet, my favorite shorts and my new shoes..

As a last thought, I always say that a marathon is made up of 3 segments, the first 10 miles, where you run with your head. The second 10 miles, where you run with your heart, and the last 6.2 miles, where you run with your guts. It always seems to work out that way, but its digging down into my core that helps me push it when everything is just falling apart (dehydrated, sore, sweaty, etc)…

So i’m off to finish getting everything ready for tomorrow … i’m feeling good, confident and ready to go .. lets hope for a good day!