May 21, 2008

The upcoming ice cream is giving me cold feet

I started getting scared this morning when I read Julie’s comments on my post yesterday about my marathon excuses, and how the VCM can really kick your butt. Then I got an e-mail this afternoon from the race organizers:

Hi Runners,
We’re only a few days away from marathon weekend! You are receiving this email because you are a registered Marathoner.

It goes on from there with some logistics but oh my gosh, I am a registered marathoner! What did I get myself into?

If you kind of cough as you say the word “registered,” it’s even scarier. I’m starting to wonder if I’m actually ready for Sunday. Minimal training, only one run over 20 miles, only two other runs over 15 miles… can I really do this???

I’m using this guide as my bible. Anyone have any more tips?

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11 thoughts on “The upcoming ice cream is giving me cold feet”

  1. This is all perfectly normal. You don’t lose that “Oh Shit” feeling until your glycogen depletion starts shutting down your brain functions. Good luck, you’ll do great.

  2. OMG! YOu will totally be fine. I ran my marathon after a single run of 15 miles…and my marathon was all hills. Granted I didn’t finish very fast(friend broke her foot..slowed us down..we were on a 4:30 pace before that)…but still finished. Thats all that matters. Rock it out girl….oh yeah…and ITS ON FOR DISNEY! My goal…to whoop your booty!

  3. A few ?s. How fast did you run your long runs? how many miles a week did you run during your training? what was your biggest week. Sounds like if you take it slow, you’ll be fine.
    Try this web site: http://mysite.verizon.net/jim2wr/
    this guy has run a ton of marathons and has good regular people answers.
    AGain, go slow, dont over drink on the water, and you should be okay

  4. It’s perfectly natural. I felt the same way and got into a bit of a panic a couple days before. You’ll be fine. As for tips, I’d recommend dedicating each mile to someone important in your life. That gave me some inspiration when times were tough.

    Also, do the carb load two nights before the race. That gives you the right time for the carbs to work.

  5. Don’t sweat it. You’ll do fine. But wear shoes you know — ditto for the clothing.

    Just don’t go out to fast…and walk if you need to. I did!

    And don’t forget to have fun. 🙂 It’s a lovely town, and everyone comes out for the marathon.

  6. Don’t go out toooo fast, I mean.

    Also, I didn’t mean to scare you off with my previous comments. You’ll have a good experience if you just take it slow and easy.

  7. Thanks for the suggestions, that was really nice of you!…the SF one is too long for me currently and the rest are not really local, alas (the Mom gig keeps me too busy weekends to spend a whole day on a race). But I’ll figure something out!

    Since I’ve never run a marathon, I haven’t felt qualified to offer advice, but I do think you’ll do fine!

    And that Julie? You should know that she’s been a worrywort since she was 3 years old…

  8. A couple tips for you (thanks for reading my parody about the race–VCM is actually a fantastic marathon; you’ll have a blast):

    1. Don’t overthink the race; don’t overplan; don’t overworry; don’t “carbo load”; don’t wring your hands and fret about what you didn’t do in training: it is what it is at this point.

    2. Do drink a decent amoutn of water the day before; do eat a nice lunch that minimizes fried foods and lard; do rest yourself; put your feet up; don’t walk around Burlington or spend too much time at the race expo consulting with people out hawking gimmicks and snakeoil

    3. Race day, have fun. Go out very, very conservative. Having run VCM many times, I can tell you that it gets progressively harder. After Battery Park Hill, the course gets boring, tedious, and is mostly unshaded. Save your energy for all that garbage. I think you turn onto the bike path at 21; it’s smooth sailing from there on–gradual downhill. Remember to break the race into segments; some miles will be easy; some will be hard; some will even be mismarked so don’t fret too much about pace. Take it one mile at a time. Remember that after a bad mile, a good one can come if you put your mind to it.

    Good luck; you can finish it–your mind is what will do it for you.

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