Marathon-eve

I don't think I should feel so much foreboding going into this race! What's the worst that can happen? I can stop and walk. Whatever. I'm not exactly planning on winning this thing, so I don't know why I dread that so much.
It will be very good to actually complete a marathon. It's been way, way too long. The marathon is easily my best distance. I like the training, I like the race itself, I like the time of year most of my marathons are run. But it's tough on the body, and my endless undiagnosed injury pulled me out of racing the distance for a very long time - almost four years (not counting the Midnight Marathon in 2013: yes, it was 26.2 miles, but it was more an event than a race). It's high time I got back out there.

There were plenty of things I should have done better this training cycle (change my shoes, do longer speed workouts, do something with my flabby core), but as a return-to-marathon training cycle it wasn't bad. I started it with a pulled hamstring, so I was coming off very little fitness (and training kicked off a year from my last surgery!). I won't beat myself up if I don't do as well as I'd hoped, but I will certainly work on improving for next time.

Pre-race, here's a little body rundown:
- Knees: left is aching post-run; right is close to better. Probably I'm a 7/10.
- Hips: actually, they feel pretty good! My right is always a little tighter, and clicks like mad, but they have a lot better range of motion than I'd expect after taper. I think my hips are about 8/10.
- Feet: I wore new flats this week and ended up with tired arches. I could put some arch wraps on, but wouldn't you know, I just read an article in which restricting arch motion was reported to significantly slow you. So no arch wrap for me (plus that's risky for a full race).
- Other: I got some little cough thing yesterday. I think it's allergies. I don't expect it to be a problem unless it worsens. And I somehow hurt my shoulder, which will probably be killing me by the end of the race. Marathons can be surprisingly tough on the upper body.

Excuse the wet hair.

To get myself into the running mood, today I'm wearing my new "Runola" shirt I got for signing up for the New Orleans Track Club! I let my membership lapse just long enough to score this cute shirt.