This Sunday I will run my first marathon. I'm very excited. And very nervous. There are a lot of unknowns: what will the weather be like, will anyone see me, how will I feel, will I finish, will I get blisters the size of Rhode Island, etc etc.
But I suppose there are a lot of knowns as well. I know this is my first marathon and that I really really want to finish it. I know I've trained relatively well. I know Columbus is flat (yay!). I know this is going to be the hardest thing I've ever done, physically.
So, there's not much left to do except rest, pack, wait and sleep well this week.
Here are my goals. The first is the only real goal. The second two would make me very happy.
1) Finish.
2) Finish feeling good and able to run a good clip across the finish line rather than crawl.
3) Finish under 5 hours.
For anyone interested in seeing how the morning plays out, the Columbus marathon has partnered with TweetMyTime to link my checkpoint times with Twitter. The checkpoints are at the start, 10K, halfway point, 20K, and finish. (Of course this is all based on it working properly.) So, there are a few ways to follow me on race day, even if you don't have Twitter (the race starts at 7:30 a.m.):
1) Twitter: If you're already following me on Twitter, then you know what to do.
2) Facebook Status/Newsfeed: I've enabled my Twitter feed for the marathon to also post to my Facebook status. So every time I cross a checkpoint, my status should be updated with my current time and pace.
3) Cell Phone Text: If you subscribe to my Facebook Status via SMS, you will get the updates sent to your phone via text message. It's not a lifelong commitment; you can easily unsubscribe after the race is over ;)
4) This Blog: Come to this blog where I've added a Twitter gadget on the right. You should see the Twitter updates there.
So, that's it! I have a couple more easy runs this week, but other than that I am resting it up. Here goes nothing!
7 comments:
Good Luck!
For some reason, I thought the race was Saturday... Good thing it's Sunday, though--the weather looks a lot more promising!!
good luck! you are going to do great! just remember to relax and have fun!
I ran Columbus as my first marathon last year and set out with a goal of 3:30:00 - Ended up doing 3:27:00. It is a great course and a great first marathon, good luck to you!
Good luck to you on all three goals!
What pace are you going for? It'll help us catch up with you at various spots (guess I can sign up for the cell phone thing). And please smile for the camera :)
I think I'm aiming for 11 minute pace, but I am pretty sure I'll slow down from there. Hopefully I can maintain that as long as possible. :)
Thanks for the good wishes everyone!!!
You'll do just fine once you're on your way. Stay loose.
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