Race Week

The countdown is on. In 4 days I will be leaving this tiny town for the big city of Minneapolis, and just 2 days after that I will be running my very first marathon. I hope once I get there all my worries will disappear and I'll be swept up in all the excitement. 20 weeks of training with only 7 off days, Insanity workouts, and everything in between- I want this to be over. I definitely need a break.

 

I received an email from my charity group Girls on the Run this morning which provided a link for the seminars that will be held Friday and Saturday. I will be attending the 3 o'clock seminar on Friday for sure and see which other ones I can fit in my schedule. The "First Time Marathoner? Ask your questions from our panel of experienced marathoners." would probably be a good one for me. Although I've already been getting awesome advice and input from my veteran runner friends. Here's what the schedule looks like.

 

Date		Time		Seminar
Fri., October 5th		12:30 p.m.		Athlete News ConferenceUSATF, Twin Cities In Motion
		2:00 p.m.		Virtual Course Tours: Marathon & 10 Mile
		3:00 p.m.		How to Maximize Race Day Performance and Enjoyment**Sarah Bowen Shea & Dimity McDowell Davis
		4:00 p.m.		A Panel Discussion with Minnesota’s Elite AthletesTeam USA Minnesota's Andrew Carlson, Emily Brown, & Meghan Peyton
		5:00 p.m.		26.2 tips from the Clif Bar Pace Team
		6:00 p.m.		Screening for Heart Disease in Runners: Is it Necessary?Todd Miller M.D., on Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic
		7:00 p.m.		Bystander CPR - The Easy Way to Save a LifeKim Harkins, Program Manager for the Minnesota Resuscitation Consortium
Sat., October 6th		10:30 a.m.		Virtual Course Tour: Marathon & 10 Mile
		11:30 a.m.		Nutritional Strategies to fuel you like an OlympianTherese Shumaker, R.D., L.D., Clinical Dietician, Mayo Clinic
		12:30 p.m.		How to Maximize Race Day Performance and Enjoyment**Sarah Bowen Shea & Dimity McDowell Davis
		1:30 p.m.		What Every Runner Needs to Know: Preventing and Treating Running InjuriesEdward Laskowski, M.D., PMR Sports Medicine Center, Mayo Clinic
		2:30 p.m.		First Time Marathoner? Ask your questions from our panel of experienced marathoners
		3:30 p.m.		Common Running Injuries: Mechanical Assessment and Treatment OptionsDavid Enneking, PT, and Betsy Walts, MPT, ATC Institute for Athletic Medicine
		4:30 p.m.		Bystander CPR - The Easy Way to Save a LifeKim Harkins, Program Manager for the Minnesota Resuscitation Consortium

 

Fargo never has anything like this so I know this is going to be a great experience for me. I hope to take lots of photos and get some notes from any seminars I attend. There's even a worship service Sunday morning for runners and their families so we'll have to attend. We're riding with friends so the plan is to leave Friday around noon and come back Sunday right after the marathon. Hopefully everyone won't have to wait too long for me to finish. I know what my goal is but I have no idea if I will achieve it. With all the fires in our area and lack of sleep as a result who knows how my body will be feeling by Sunday. Right now I'm very sore and worn out from a 12 hour overnight fire call this weekend. So I missed my 10 mile run yesterday but I did get a nice run in tonight. Sometimes God has a different plan for us but we must persevere (my 5th grader is learning about this in school) and keep going. My play list is up to 2.5 hours which is probably enough. If I need to use my iPod hopefully it won't be until after mile 13. I read that a marathon should be broken up into thirds- the first 1/3 with your head, the next 1/3 with your personality, and the last 1/3 with your heart. I'll try to remember that.