DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID

Less than 2 weeks to go. That seems to be the time when I get the most questions regarding my upcoming marathon. How's your training going? How are you feeling? What are you shooting for? And so on. Normally, I have to mention some sort of setback that I've experienced along the way, which, if nothing else, has left my confidence in question. Well, there's none of that this time around. I'd have to look back at all my marathon build-ups to see if I've had any others go this smoothly. I can't remember any off the top of my head.

I ran my last "long" run yesterday - a 16 miler that gave me 55 miles for the week. This morning I ran my last tune-up, Grand Old Days 8K. The only goal for the day; don't do anything stupid. I accomplished that and ended up running 15 seconds faster than at the Human Race 8K in March. After missing the first mile my splits were 12:30, 6:27, 6:23 and 6:08.

Normally, towards the end of the race, I have no problem "letting" someone beat me. By that point in the race, I'm usually content just to be finished. Whether or not I finish a place or two higher is of little concern. Today I decided to challenge that philosophy. I spent the last 2 miles running with another guy. With probably 200-300 meters to go I decide to pick up the pace. I figured I didn't care if the guy beat me, but I at least wanted to make him work a little. Who knows, maybe I could hold him off and develop a new philosophy.

I did.