I’ve started the painful task of ‘hydration’ as they call it .. which is taking in a consistent amount of water and complex carbs in preparation for Sunday mornings marathon. I’m doing it a bit different than in past years in that i’m not overconsuming the water and carbs, just keeping myself satisfied instead. In past years, i’ve come close to making myself sick with the amount of water and carbs I take in, so that just doesn’t work for me. Tomorrow evening i’ll start to increase the water even more to ensure i’m hydrated well enough as I take in some additional carbs, but before that time, there is no need to overdo it.

I’ve never been big on doing this ‘carb-loading’ the night before a race. I’m not sure the value of taking in a ton of carbs (pasta and bread) within 12 hours of a race in order to build up your glycogen for the race. This idea has just its never worked for me, I always end up with an upset stomach in one way or another .. I always just eat normally the night before the marathon, the same way that I do prior to my long runs during training. I think thats what it comes down to, is to just DO what you’ve done during your extended training. Changing things around now only sets you up to fail, so if you’ve always done carbs before your long run, do it before your race, but if you don’t … don’t force yourself, you’ll regret it. (Remember my tips on what not to do during tapering, DON’T ADD NEW THINGS!!)

So after a depressing trip yesterday to pick up my race packet that I got lost on, I finally found the Via office and got my packet today, and the free shirt that comes with it … and i’m just not sure about the whole shirt thing. You’ll see in the picture that the lime green color isn’t really very masculine .. its the first race shirt i’ve gotten that has put a question mark in my mind as to whether i’ll wear it or not. I like the design .. and the orange (my daughters favorite color), but the green, I don’t know..

Today was just a rest day .. the weather is looking nice for Sunday despite the heavy rain we got today and expect to get overnight, but its not stopping me from getting psyched.. I just realized that the race starts at 7am on Sunday, not at 6:45, so i’ve been off in my time estimates, but we’re less than 36 hours away as I write tonight.

Unfortunately there isn’t much more to write since I haven’t been running as much this week .. hopefully one last post tomorrow before the race results come out on Sunday .. I’m hoping for a 3:45, but we’ll see. Just to finish in one piece is really the goal as I have 2 more chance to shine later in the season. I also did register for the 100th Run for the Diamonds in Berwick on Thanksgiving Day. I missed the race last year because I was moving at that time, but its a great way to spend Thanksgiving morning, and a good way to end the racing season… more info on that coming up..