Last minute details

My last run is done. Yup. I ran 4 miles yesterday. There is no more running until Sunday morning when I crank out my 26.2 miles.

Now it's time to rest. And pack. And get all those last minute details out of the way.

Tonight I printed out a pacing wrist band. The idea is that you wear it and it tells you mile by mile where you need to be to complete the run in a certain time frame. I printed out two. One has me finishing in 4 hours and 45 minutes and the other has me finishing in 4 hours and 51 minutes. That puts me at a 10:52 pace or at a 11:05 pace. I certainly hope I can pull one of those off.

I also made a sign for the back of my shirt. It says "First Time Marathoner." I am not completely sure I want to wear it though. I mean, do I really want to call attention to the fact that I am a newbie marathoner? It's almost like when you are driving and you see one of those cars with student drivers and the back of the car has the blaring sign that says "STUDENT DRIVER."  It might as well say, "Steer clear of me because I suck at driving." Or, in my case, "Steer clear of me because I am a nervous, new marathoner and don't know what the hell I am doing."

I need a sign that says "New Marathoner on the Road.
Stay Away! Far Away!"

Another thing on my "to-do" list was to find a throw-away shirt. This basically means that I need something that I can wear right before the race so I don't get cold. (It will typically be colder in the morning before we start the run. So, I need something to keep me warm while we are waiting in the corral like cattle to start). Right before the race starts, I will discard it. The key was to buy something that was cheap. I accomplished this by finding a sweatshirt at the dollar store today. The cheap price makes it easy to just throw on the ground and say good-bye to it!

Throwing clothing away at the start line is common.
In fact, the marathon crew usually takes the discarded clothing and donates it .

There are still little odds and ends that I need to do, like pack my bag, and remember my sneakers charge my camera. But, I think I am ready. Well, as ready as I will ever be to run 26.2 miles.

And that's that.