Less than a week left.

Not sure what's left at this point.

I've more or less trained all I can. It's all about pre-race preparation and mental conditioning. All about getting through it, getting through the wall. Work out the strategy of running, which, fortunately, is something I'm pretty decent at.

And shill for those last minute donations, of course.

Oh, and I have to decide if I want to give my luscious locks a trim between now and Sunday. Leaning yes, but it's not much of a lean.

Tonight, I gave my body its last good beating before the race. Played ultimate at the O'Keefe Center, pretty much savage (without subbing out, for those of you who don't play), for like two hours. Even did some 100m sprints before practice, or at least tried to. Haven't done that in almost literally four years. Last high school meet was early May of 2006.

So yeah, things are looking good. Forecast is in the mid 50s for Monday, mostly sunny. I like that. Bringing in my paperwork Friday afternoon then spending the evening with my lovely girlfriend. Then it's rest rest rest, pasta party, rest, wake up, get nervous, get ready and





...go.

Go Directly to Summer. Do not cross Spring, do not collect $200.

This streak of mostly unseasonably warm weather we're at the beginning of has made life a bit easier. I feel more upbeat, which is nice. Makes running outside so very enjoyable and rewarding. I've been mixing in days with two middle distancey runs - two 5s, a 5 and a 6, etc. Not much turnaround between, usually a quick stretch, a class period, a bit of warmup, and then back. Not quite the same as a full-on long run, but effective, so long as I make sure I don't pull anything.

The warm weather has got me wondering about the big day, though. I know that typically, the best weather is partly cloudy and in the low-mid 50s, minimal wind, unless it is a tail wind. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm hoping we overshoot that a bit. My best work has come between ~60 and 70 degrees, and I don't mind a slight breeze, even if it is a headwind. With the exception of weather like today -- 80+ -- I don't think my run is going to be terribly affected by the weather. My goal is to finish, optimally under 6 hours; my prospective pace is slow enough that the effect the weather will have on it is presumably negligible, so personally, I'm rooting for weather that is either equally miserable for everyone or enjoyable for us slow folks.

What about any of you reading this? What are you hoping for for weather?

Le sigh

Lately I have just not felt entirely myself. I'm not sure if it's the typical seasonal affective disorder that I tend to suffer from during the late winter/early spring or not. I lean towards "not", because we have had unseasonably warm weather, and we have changed the clocks. Those two things tend to signify both the spring and me coming out of my funk. And for a while, that was true this year.

But for the most part of the last week, I have just felt off. I felt off before the 5K, I felt off during and after. The week has been good, in general, and I have had fun with most of it, but when I am left to my own devices, I haven't really done all that well. I'm finding it hard to focus on my training, which is not good, as I am already behind.

All of this has been capped of with my stomach feeling pretty rocky over the last day or so, and for no apparent reason. My diet hasn't changed, I'm not sick, nothing like that. But for some reason, my stomach is just... not quite right. Hopefully it clears up relatively quickly, because I need to kick ass over these next three weeks.

This shouldn't be this hard at this point.

I'm not ready.

I'm not.

Had a 5k this morning, at the local golf course. My second favorite distance behind the 200 meters. Yes, the 200 meters. I will always be a sprinter at heart. The course was the sort of course that should favor me, lots of small to medium hills. I live at the highest elevation in Salem, I can't do any runs without hills. This race should have been in my wheelhouse.

And I sucked. I made literally every mistake I could've made, both mentally and physically. Terrible. The course was a mess from all the rain, but I can't even blame it on that. I wasn't warmed up enough, didn't stretch well enough, didn't eat or drink what I should've beforehand. I took terrible lines around and through the soggy areas, ran the downhills poorly. My feet and ankles hate me. I really could not have run a worse race.

Fuck.

Who wants a mixtape?

We've got a month to go. Maybe a little incentive will get you guys donating!

Anyone who donates... let's say $20 or more and responds to this post in some fashion after doing so -- email me, comment here or on Facebook or wherever. Donate, get a hold of me, and tell me what styles of music you like, or perhaps a theme you want the songs to have. You do that, and you will get a custom built mp3 mix from yours truly. If you're lucky, I might even burn it on fancy CD-R for you. At the very least, you'll get a neatly packaged mix in your email, which can be added to iTunes, burned, etc.

So use that little link to the right side of the page and donate!

I should write more often.

Arg.

Training is going alright. I'm still behind quite a bit, and will remain as such until Marathon Monday. It can't be helped at this point. But my legs are strong, and my lung capacity is good. As long as I put in good work for the next six weeks, I think I'll be fine, though of course not as good as I'd like to be.

I think, and I suppose hope, that the emotions of the day will make the first hour easy, and that the support of my friends and family will help make the last hour easier. I feel like, in a way, I only need to mentally prepare myself for the middle 15 of the race. If I can will my way through that, I will be okay.

Fundraising, on the other hand, is going pretty well. We have raised over twelve hundred dollars so far, with a lot more coming this month. I think we should hit $3500-4000 by April 1st. Hopefully after that we can approach the goal of $7500.

If not, there's always next year! (?)

Oh my.

Just got my singlet.

This thing is snazzy.