Of course it's about running.

A week from right now I should be eating a celebratory deep-dish pizza or something similarly prohibited from my current race-prep diet. This week that diet will consist of stuff like chicken, pasta, rice, potatoes, lots of fruit, oatmeal, bagels etc. Traditionally this packs on a couple pounds during the last several days before a race, but that's no big deal because it's mostly your body storing the carbs needed for energy. (Plus you're not burning as much via training.)

The tough part at this point is psychological, when your miles drop by a large margin (I'm down to 9 total training miles this week), plus it's now been over two weeks since the last long run. A year ago I was worried that I had lost fitness and would be underprepared for the race, but sure enough on race day I was rested, my muscles fully recovered from the long training runs and was fully carb-loaded and energized.

This year I'm looking forward to the race knowing I'll be in that ideal spot again, and this time the trick will be to avoid going out too fast in the early miles. I'll plan to follow the 3:45 pace team (very close to an 8:30 pace). I could go faster but again I want to ensure I don't start too fast.

Finally congrats to Jill for finishing her first marathon in Baltimore yesterday with an impressive 4:22. Wooo!