Every Run is a Great Run!

It's funny you would mention "worry and fret". I personally think those may be the very things that have the most potential to negatively affect your performance on Saturday.

Sasha said he races better after clowning around the day before. Perhaps playing some music (guitar or piano), or maybe miniature golf, or some other enjoyable distraction would be good therapy to get you to stop worrying and fretting about the marathon.

Try to spend some quality time in the Zen zone. Physically you're definitely ready. I think now you just need to loosen up mentally so you can let it out.

(Just a little Paul-osophy. Apply at your own risk.)

I also tend to worry and fret a bit before every marathon, but then in a moment of clarity I realize that the day of preparation is past and there's not much that I can change at that point so I'll just do my best and be satisfied with that. Just try and relax and enjoy a great event with a few thousand of your closest friends :)

Thanks for the calming words guys. I'm afraid that "worry and fret" are just part of my personality to some degree. The trick is channeling the anxiety in a positive way rather than negative so that it doesn't become something that jinxes the whole race.

The good news is that compared to 2 years ago when I was going for the BQ, my worry and stress level is so far much less than then. I was a total basket case the entire week before the race, didn't sleep well a single night the whole week, couldn't think straight, resting HR was through the roof all week, felt a little sick, etc. I thought I was pretty much going to have the worst crash-and-burn ever come race day. But the funny thing.... I had my best marathon ever and one of those races where it's near euphoria from start to end. Why? I have no idea. Perhaps I had trained for 3:10 so that sub 3:20 was easy. Perhaps this year I've trained for 2:50 so sub-3 will be easy? Who knows what will happen come race day. That's what makes it all such and adventure, right Paul?

But gosh, if only these measly 2-mile MP runs I've done lately could feel a little easier, it sure would ease my mind.....oh well...(sigh)....we just have to wait until race day to see what the running powers that be have in store for us.

Hey this is all the FUN kind of "worry and fret".

No need to stress out too much Tom. You've only been training for and looking forward to this marathon effort for 12+ months, right?

You'll do great.

Actually, Tom didn't run a marathon last year so he could focus on his training, so I think it's been closer to 24 months.

"Anticipation, anticipation...Is keepin' me waitin'." (Carly Simon)

Call me a heretic, but unless you're really feeling *tired*, I wouldn't take the extra day off.....if it's just a matter of feeling a bit stale, the body will appreciate you sticking with the normal running routine, even if it is scaled down a bit for the taper (i.e. 4 miles instead of 12). If you're feeling particularly tired, by all means, but I've found that cutting back too far makes me feel lethargic and normal paces feel hard.

As for the MP feeling hard, consider this....when I run a longer (10K - Half Marathon), I run about 1/2 mile at a bit faster than my race pace and it feels way hard. Then, when the race starts, it's much easier. Why? The body needs time to get all it's systems firing properly....usually a good stiff bout of hard running is enough to get all systems primed and gets the crappy feelings out of the way. So your 2 miles at GMP probably did feel hard because you've tapered off the harder running and it was warmer and by the time you were warmed up it was over.

So, I think you should stick with your schedule, realize that the taper *does* feel like crap most of the time, get plenty of sleep, take deep calming breaths, and get ready to run the race like you've never run a marathon before! I said it before, I'll say it again....YOU ARE READY! Don't listen to the mental demons try to tell you you're not ready....just look back over all the miles you've run, the workouts in the bank, the tempos, the repeats, the hills, all of the training that *shows* you you are ready. Don't let your mind *tell* you you're not....your training blog proves you are!

Lecture over.... :)

Tom will be incredible. I ran my pr last year coming back from a week at Disneyland, so there is something to be said for just relaxing. I hope to not worry myself.

"A little warm for running (mid 60s and sunny)" that just makes me feel sick . . . :) I have had to consider anything below 80 degrees to be cool, even now! Tom, don't worry about the MP feeling hard, I totally agree with Dale. Come Saturday, we can all warm up and do some striders to get the system going. You'll do just fine. Plus, the weather should be cooler, and we may even have a tailwind (or at least a helpful crosswind), based on the accuweather reports.

Here's the current Accuweather prediction for Friday night:

Low: 41°F RealFeel®: 33°F

Partly cloudy and windy

Winds: S at 22mph

Sounds perfect to me!