Friday Things

Happy Race Day Eve! I’m declaring today a holiday, and I hope you all celebrate in your own special way. J-Money is at work for the morning and then we’ll be heading down to Phoenix. I woke up so excited this morning. I’m still a little nervous, but I’m being positive and confident that it’s going to go my way tomorrow. The rain forecast is gone (!!) and the wind looks like it’ll still be manageable.

Let’s hop to it!

1. On Wednesday night I got the chance to go to a Q and A panel at the local running store that featured Olympic hopefuls in the marathon that live and train here in Flagstaff.

The panel included the Bruces which was so exciting! I’m a major fan girl of Stephanie Rothstein Bruce and Ben Bruce had such a killer year (won 5 RNR Marathons in one calendar year), so I was especially stoked to hear the two of them talk. It was really incredible to see all these people in one room talk about their training. I was seriously in awe over their PR’s and awards. Nick Arciniaga ran a 1:01 half marathon! That is mind boggling to me.

Anyway, the panel was extremely interesting. They talked a lot about the benefits of training at altitude, which I eventually would like to do a full post on. But, the question that I was really interested in was “How do you handle the pain?” Since, I’m most concerned about fighting through the last few miles tomorrow, (my mental game is always the weakest) I was extremely interested in what they had to say. My favorite answers were:

Ben: “You’re probably doing better then you think you are, and aren’t slowing nearly as much as you think you are. Stay positive.”

Stephanie: “Don’t wish the pain away. You trained to handle the pain, so embrace it.”

Nick H: “Break it into pieces. ‘Get to the next mile, aid station, etc.'”

Those three are going to be my goals for tomorrow when things start to get tough. It was great and a lot of fun. And I got to meet Stephanie at the end!

2.  We’re supposed to get a ridiculous amount of snow over the weekend. We’re hoping to beat the bad part of the storm home tomorrow post race. I am SO glad I finagled a 4 day weekend this week. I want to stay home, cozy by the fire and watch the snow fall.

3. House of Cards came out TODAY! PEOPLE! Here I’ve been asking why no one is talking about the show…it wasn’t out yet. So silly of me. Anyway, NOW I am stoked to watch it. And feel less ridiculous when I mention it.

4. I am completely overwhelmed by the amount of support I’ve gotten for this marathon. Social  media has completely changed how I think about running and the running community. I’ve always been a very solo runner and I was extremely nervous starting this blog and being more active on social medial. I just want to THANK YOU all for reading and following me along on this training cycle and for all your support! It’s meant a great deal to me and I wish everyone running tomorrow good luck!

That’s all I’ve got! I hope everyone has a stellar weekend! For those of you racing, fast legs, and for those of you training/tapering have great runs!