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October 11, 2006
t minus 11 days
Til marathon number 2!
Last Thursday night I ran with a guy who has run Niagara a couple of times. He gave me some good advice and also made me think. Think about breakfast. You see the race starts at 10am, but we have to be at the bus at 7am. Once we arrive state side (the marathon starts in New York state and finishes in Canada) we are put in a staging area for an hour or so. The staging area is an art gallery, where you can't eat ... you can outside but depending on the weather that could be difficult.
Normally my pre-race routine involves eating oatmeal 2 hours before the race, but I'll be leaving my hotel 3.5 hours before the start ... argggghhhh. I could bring a snack ... but what snack? I have a 12 miler this Sunday so I could try it out then.
Last Sunday was our last long run before the big day. Not that 12 isn't long ... P and I set out at 7.30 for our 16 miler. It was a perfect fall day. Cool, clear, beautiful coloured leaves in trees and on the ground and a wonderful mist rising off the river. At mile 4, K and D joined us and we headed to the end of the park and up Boler hill, a wonderful 2 miles all up hill. When we reached we turned around and flew back down. I love downhill. I felt great. We headed back into the park were a thanksgiving 6k race was taking place. We got to run through the finish line and get cheers from the crowd. Time for another waterstop so we stopped at a waterfountain, everything seemed good til we started running again, I seemed to have seized up in minutes and left all my energy at the finish line.
K left us at our 12 mile mark and P and I continued on. We were both exhausted and took turns picking the next goal ... just make it to the anchor, then we can have a drink, then the tunnel, then the splash pad. We finally made it back for a total of 16.5 miles. I thought the second half was a lot slower, but turns out it was only 3 minutes slower. Very pleased with Sunday's run.
Last night was the last big workout, mile repeats ... 6 or them plus a 2 mile warm up and cool down. I ache today, it's either all the miles or someone is beating me with a plank in the middle of the night!
Massage later tonight ... yipppee!
Posted by Ali at October 11, 2006 6:00 PM
Comments
Have you ever tried granola bars or something similiar to this. It might be a good replacement for your oatmeal.
Posted by: Jack at October 12, 2006 2:01 AM
good job on the long run and the mile repeats! suggestion on the snack: how about a cinnamon raisin bagel? (or blueberry, or plain, if you don't like cinnamon)? and/or a banana?
Posted by: nattie at October 12, 2006 6:57 AM
if oatmeal works for you maybe you could try to stick with it and eat it outside of the staging area. take it with you in a throw away dish. otherwise take a bagel and banana.
Posted by: deene at October 12, 2006 11:31 AM