Fit Fun Mom

Remember how I joked that you know you’re ready for your big race when you start seeing “signs” or omens? The other night I was doing word puzzles while soaking in a hot bath (one of my favorite taper luxuries) and I solved an 8-letter word scramble:

Yup, I’d call that a sign.

With just two more days until the Long Beach International Marathon, I am busy with last minute details (reservation at Italian restaurant for carbo-loading dinner: check) and I am firming up my goals for the race. This will be my third full marathon. I ran Santa Barbara in 4:02:39, and Mountains2Beach in 3:57:29.

So, my goals, in no particular order:

1. Beat my best time of 3:57:29.
2. Do not bonk (not as hard as last time, anyway. I fully expect to slow down toward the end but I want to stay strong, of course).

Training this round has gone well. I’ve stuck to the plan (from Run Less, Run Faster) and the training has gone even better than it did for Mountains2Beach. I have definitely gained some speed if my ability to complete the speed workouts and tempo runs is any indication. I am also working on my nutrition plans for pre-race carbo-loading and fueling during the race. I think I seriously under-fueled during my last full marathon and it was not a fun experience. I’d really like to fix that for this third full marathon. To that end, I’ve been reading The New Rules of Marathon and Half-Marathon Nutrition: A Cutting-Edge Plan to Fuel Your Body Beyond “the Wall” and tweaking my nutrition plans.

If you’d like to follow along with the fun on race day starting at 6 a.m. PDT on Sunday you can plug in my race bib number 3601 into the Racemine Result Kiosk. That site will provide time splits at five points along the course. Wish me luck! And be sure to spare some good race vibes for Kim at Day with KT as she does her 50 mile race!