Planes, Trains, and Running Shoes

Good morning everyone! Happy Monday! I'm really excited about this morning's post for a number of reasons! I'm 2 weeks away from the Philadelphia Marathon and could not be more excited! I still get really nervous sometimes, but lately I'm starting to be much more excited than I am nervous especially after volunteering at the ING New York City Marathon yesterday.

It was awesome. I was volunteering at Aid Station 24 handing out Gatorade to the runners. I had a great time volunteering and met some people who are racing Philly in 2 weeks and 2 girls who ran the Philly Half last year and gave me some great tips about the course.

New York was the first marathon I've ever spectated. I should have been at Boston this year when everyone in the city has off, but my awful job kept me at the office and away from the race. Anyway, it was amazing. Watching the Elite runners go by was unbelievable, but my favorite part was watching the regular, average, my pace kind-of people go by. I saw a lot of things that were inspiring and a lot of things that scared me a little bit, but what I saw the most of was runners having fun. And that made me realize that, you know what? Sure, I want to run the best race I possibly can, but you know what? I'd rather have fun running the best race I can then stress myself out pushing myself and killing myself to come in sub-4. And I think that that's a really important lesson that I learned.

Best Parts about NYC:
-Yelling to the runners Water! or Gatorade! And having a a runner come by and say Beer?
-Asking a guy who looked like he was about to die if he was ok and having him look up at me and say, I will be when I cross the f***ing line and then bolting off and sprinting to the finish.
-A man dressed like Minnie Mouse running the race.
-Spongebob running the race.
-Calling out people's names (I'm definitely wearing my name on my shirt!) and seeing their reaction at hearing their name. You can tell that it made a huge difference in how they felt at that moment.

It was amazing. I encourage everyone, runners and non-runners alike, to volunteer at a Marathon sometime. I warn you though, it will give you a burning desire to run your own race, so I guess it's good that mine is in 2 weeks!

So, where am I at in training? I'm 2 weeks out and I'm tapering. I had a not-so good training week last week. Only got in 23 miles, 20 miles less than what I should have run, but there were just some circumstances that I couldn't control (like rain at night and a 25 minute time limit on the treadmills at the gym). But, I had an incredible 13 mile run yesterday and I'm feeling damn good and I have marathon fever and I cannot wait to cross my own finish line.

This week, it's nice and easy:
Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday: 5 miles easy
Wednesday: 5 mile tempo run
Thursday: Rest Day
Friday: 5 miles easy
Saturday: 5 miles easy
Sunday: 12 miles

I'm on a strict diet, by diet, I mean high carb and protein intake and making sure I'm actually eating the right amount of calories per day and I'm getting in 8-9 hours of sleep per night because I am going to run a marathon and I am going to have fun doing it and I am going to run the best race that I am capable of and I can't wait. 

If you're going to be in Philly, let me know, I'd love to see ya!

Happy Monday everyone!