MCM 2014 Prep and Taper Madness

After months of training,  I find it hard to believe that I am 3 days away from the 2014 Marine Corps Marathon.     I am happy to say that I head into race day healthy and confident in my training campaign.   I am well into the taper process and I find myself worried about the craziest things as I think about race day.

My main taper fixation is equipment failure.   Specifically, I worry that I switched to new shoes to close to race day.   I primarily trained in Adidas adiZero Tempo 5 and recently, like last week, switched to Adidas adiZero Tempo 6's.   These shoes are very similar, so my main worry is that I don't have them broken-in appropriately for the race.  Along with the shoes, I am stressing about what to wear.  I know that sounds like a 15 year old girl, but it is a major issue.  Historically I over dress for races, my goal for this race is be dressed on the cool side.  The weather forecast should be perfect for shorts and short sleeve shirts.   My last equipment worry is about hydration and a decision to carry a camelbak or not.  I am confident that all these worries will go away once the race starts. 

My race day pace plan is pretty simple:   Start out with a 9:45 pace and move towards a 9:00min pace.   Overall goal is to finish ~4:15hrs.   I am feeling strong and well trained, just not fast enough to break 4:00hrs on this race.

I have one more shake-out run planned and then the marathon weekend will be here.  My marathon weekend plan is coming together.    The coordination of Marathon weekends are exciting and fun,  but stressful because of all the details of the race and travel logistics.  We will travel to Washington, DC on Friday night.  We plan to spend time as a family and hit the Race Expo on Saturday.   Sunday race morning will be exciting and I plan to connect with other runners before the start.   I am always excited to see friends and family in the crowd supporting me during the race.  Post race will be busy getting food and traveling home.  

I am excited to Run With the Marines again, and complete my 5th Marathon.    I wish a good race to all the runners this weekend, I will see you out there.