This weekend featured an awesome 9-mile run on Saturday. A running friend was in town for her son's hockey tournament, so we met up for a nice little jog (she's training for Disney). We wound up talking the entire time, and I couldn't believe how fast the time just flew by! I also couldn't believe that after running a 10:30 - 10:40 pace for 9 miles, I was still talking without any problems. This makes me feel better about my Dream Goal for the marathon on Sunday.

This was followed by a ridiculously speedy 3-mile run on Sunday. I felt like I was working, but I wasn't running all out. I was just jogging along, not trying to push myself but not trying to slow myself down either. The 3 miles flew by in 28:47. For comparison, my 5K PR I set this summer (back in June) is 28:29. I'm sort of excited for the next 5K I'm going to run now - I don't know when it's going to be, but as long as I can maintain the shape I'm in now? I think I can bust that PR to pieces. (Which is exciting, since that race busted my previous PR of 31:15, which, at the time, I was pretty impressed with.) If nothing else, that might be enough to brave the treadmill over the winter and get off my heiny after the marathon and keep running.

So, this week, I've calmed down, I'm pumped, excited, and ready to go. I don't always feel ready - in fact, I've been feeling ridiculously sluggish and lazy so far. I don't think I'm drinking enough water or getting enough sleep, and I'm fairly sure I'm eating too much. I'm trying not to obsess over it, though, since it's a busy week. Tonight, I've got a happy hour to go to, and tomorrow night I've got a test I haven't studied for yet. Thursday night is packing night, and then we hit the road for Detroit bright & early Friday morning. Eeek! I really can't believe that after all these months of training, race day is finally almost here. I have stopped checking the weather - the temperature forecast seems to be holding steady at 50-60, which is fantastic. The only variable seems to be whether or not it's going to rain. And, if it is? I'm honestly better off not knowing that until the night before. I'll pack enough running clothes to get me through anything, and figure it all out on Saturday night. Or maybe Sunday morning. We'll see.

If nothing else, this little piece of news is keeping me happy and excited this week: I e-mailed my brother last week, to remind him that the marathon was this coming weekend, and to see if he'd be able to come and watch the finish. He's not a morning person, and lives about an hour west of Detroit, so I really didn't expect him to show up in time for the 7:35 start. My 12:00 - 12:30 finish is much more up his alley. So imagine my surprise when I got his response, and he said he'd talked to our parents and was thinking about heading over to their house in the morning and riding downtown with us, so he could see the whole thing.

I couldn't believe it! My brother, who doesn't get up early for anything, was volunteering to leave his house by 5 or 5:30 so he could be at our parents' by 6 or 6:30 so I could be downtown by 7? Really? I told him that it was up to him, but it would be really awesome if he could come over early and see the whole thing. Sometimes, he really surprises me with how decent of a person he is these days - a far cry from the little brat who used to terrorize me on a daily basis. (But that's what little brothers are for, right?)

I'm also working out a deal with my boyfriend to have him jump in around mile 21 or 22 and run a few miles at the end of the race with me. A couple people have recommended I do this, since by that point the company may be the mental boost I need. The boyfriend's knee has been bothering him a bit lately, but he said that as long as it feels OK, he's got no problem running 4 or 5 miles with me at the end. Fantastic! I'll have crowd support and a running buddy. What more could a girl ask for?

The last bit of planning I'm plotting is to give my parents a banana, a bottle of Gatorade, and maybe a granola bar, and ask them to hang on to it during the race. That way, if I want any of those things when I pass by them on the course, I've got it.

All that's left to do is pack my stuff, get to Detroit, pick up my stuff at the expo, and sit down with my parents and the course map to figure out where they'll be on the course to see me, so I know where to look for them!