4 days left

By now I have had to skip the R-I workout given some leg pain -resulting from a combination of those fabulous 20 quarter miles and the tempo run chasing chris on saturday oh wait that was a fartlek- At any rate I went for a slow 3 mile jog. It seems like the combination ibuprofen + rest is helping, and I will be able to race next monday. The question is, how has this affected my pace (if at all) and what are the odds I will get really injured during the race?

I am calculating that the nature of the problem will allow me to run the entire race, but I suspect afterwards I will be out for some time. If I get my PR that wont matter much. If not, well, I dont really want to consider that possibility. It just is not an option.

In one week it will be over......

So I sit here one week from Boston and begin the despicable process of dissecting my prior training weeks looking for where I might have done more. Were there opportunities for better training runs, more gut-wrenching LTs, more mileage? The answer to all is "YES." But this winter was as bad as I've had in all my running years here in Chicago. We did the best we could (which meant running inside or nearly breaking our backs slipping on the icy lakefront).

I'm just looking forward to running this bear of a marathon. I heard Bill talking about "savoring the moment and enjoying" the race on Monday. Hogwash! I want to have my mind focused on nothing short of the task. I want to have unbearable pain and exhaustion as I head into Hereford St and down the long straightaway to the finish. My time will not break a world record, but I just hope to post another PR or at least something I won't be embarrassed to repeat in public in the next few months.

I'm still left with my last marathon experience of a DNF (many factors outside of my ability to finish factored into that one) in Chicago in October. I just want this one to be memorable for the right reasons.

So with this, I make a humble request to Mother Nature for Monday:

Give us no rain, a light cloud cover (or even some gentle sunlight), may there be no headwind--- rather, give us a tailwind from the west at about 12-14 mph.

Let's all make it to Monday injury-free so that we can have a good shot at making this run what we all have trained to make it.