This weekend. This weekend. This weekend! Gah! My very first half marathon is this weekend. So, you can imagine my concern when I woke up feeling absolutely horrid yesterday morning. Uh-oh.

Must. Not. Get. Sick.

As the day went on, I realized that I didn’t feel feverish and my morning congestion went away. I was simply left with a massive headache and intense lower back pain. I coerced Peter into giving me a long (and painful) massage last night and it seems to have helped. Now I just need to get caught up on the tons of sleep my body apparently craves. I’ve slept more than normal recently, but my body still feels exhausted and in need of more more more sleep. I sincerely hope I’m not fighting something off and wind up sick come this weekend. Eeep!

Although not getting sick isn’t the only concern I face with the race. On the whole, I feel well prepared and trust my training. I don’t doubt I can run the 13.1 miles and do so strongly. I do, however, wonder about a few other areas.

The Crowds

23,000 people will race the Savanna Rock N Roll Marathon and Half Marathon. 23,000! That sounds unreal to me! Every race I have done so far doesn’t have many crowds at all. How long will I feel like a packed sardine? How long will it take before I can find my stride? How will I manage finding Peter and the many other friends I plan to see at the race? How will I handle transportation to the race?!

Planned remedy: Use the crowds for energy! Also, plan ahead for race morning travel with lots of extra time and have set meeting places for post-race.

Loop vs Out and Back

I run all of my runs in an out and back fashion. We don’t have any areas that allow for going down various streets that connect for a nice loop. My area isn’t uber runner friendly. I actually like the out and back paths though because, mentally, I feel stronger with a mental image of what to expect on the remainder of my run. Sometimes, I have felt discouraged not knowing what lay ahead or exactly how much longer I have in other races.

Planned remedy: Study the course map beforehand and enjoy the scenery and bands along the way!

Hills?

I’m not very good reading a coarse elevation map. I do know that almost all of my long runs happened on a running pathway that has only one moderate hill and a few small hills. That looks like a pretty good, steady incline from mile 4.5 to mile 8…but only around 70 feet in elevation changes is nothing, right?

Planned remedy: Even if the run is hilly, I trained on killer hills many, many times during other runs of my training.

Traveling

I feel so nervous that I will forget something key, like my shoes, and not realize it until I’m five hours away from home in Savannah. I’m pretty good at having a scattered brain…especially when packing in a hurry, which never fails to happen with two kids.

Planned remedy: Make a list. Do a mental run through of everything I need while checking my bags. And remember a huge race has a huge expo, if I do forget anything. Oh – and WEAR my shoes when traveling so I don’t leave those.

Looking at my few concerns makes me feel better actually. I see I can have it somewhat under control and that what really matters, the running, will happen no matter what. I got this!!! Savannah, watch out. I’m ready!

• What ways do you calm nerves before a big event?
• Are you a well-planned or forgetful packer?

Alternate titles to this post:

• I Promise I’m Not Always This Stupid
• Mile Markers Stole My Thunder
• Seriously? Seriously?!?

So, Saturday means long run day for me. I have four weeks until my first half marathon (or official half marathon…but we’ll get to that in a minute). For my last four weeks, I had a game plan. It went something like this:

• Oct 8 – 12 mile run
• Oct 15 – 15K race with Lee (in a week?! that one snuck up on me!)
• Oct 22 – 12 miles again
• Oct 29 – 10 miles (still good distance, but not as high before race day)
• Nov 5 – Savannah RNR, baby!!!!

I wanted to fit in a couple of 12 miler runs to help myself feel better prepared, mentally and physically for my run.

In my mind, 12 made the perfect distance to feel more than ready for a half marathon distance, but to still make hitting 13.1 special.

I can’t tell you how many times the image of crossing the Savannah RNR finish line and achieving that goal has motivated me on my long runs. Keeping 13.1 special means a lot to me. I wanted to save it for race day.

Notice that? I wanted to save it for race day.

It may make me a whiny, bratty witch to complain about that…but it bothered me. Allow me to pitch a hissy fit for a few minutes? I promise to get over it by the end of this post.

For my run this morning, I didn’t want to worry about my pace in hitting a new PDR of 12 miles. I strapped on my Garmin but told myself to avoid looking at it at all costs. I did a very good job of that and solely used the mileage markers on the running path to guide my run.

When I thought I had reached 6 miles based on the markers, I checked my Garmin while grabbing my Gu from my Spibelt. It read 6.36 miles. Oh, great. There was nothing I could do about it, besides turn around and run back. I would just end up with about .7 miles extra on my run.

Then…I had to take a pit stop to the bathroom on the way back. The bathroom is off a side trail, that I thought would be relatively short. It was .2 miles each way. Can you do the math? 6.36 + 6.36 + .2 + .2 = right at 13.1 miles.

My special distance. The distance I wanted to hit crossing a finish line, with my husband watching me and then get the chance to celebrate the heck out of that day later with friends. I ended the run feeling strong, but kind of gipped.

I know full well that being able to run 13.1 miles is nothing to whine about. I will still feel so proud crossing the finish line. I feel in awe of my body today that it accomplished that distance.

Thanks for letting me gripe. First, I’m going to have Makenzie help me learn how to count. Then, I’m going to knock some sense into myself and get over it. Feel free to help me out.  

• Do you get emotionally attached to reaching goals at all?