Two days...

In (almost) two days I will know - know whether I will finish the GW marathon or now. A little more than 48 hours actually, since this race has a somewhat of a later start of 10:30AM. Wow...I get to sleep in, too! At this time in two days I will be only 1.75 hours into what should be a minimum of 5.25 hour race for me. I am not even going to attempt to go under 5 hours both my previous marathons were. Of course, it is not like they were majorly under 5 hours either. LOL The first (Baltimore2002) was like 4:55:30 and the second (MCM2004) was 4:58:54.

Anyway, I will see how Sunday goes. If I drop out after one or two of the three loops there is an alternate marathon possibility 3 weeks after - the Lower Potomac River Marathon, which I have up on my schedule with a ? beside it. Then this GW event would just be a 'training run'. Oh well... And in the meantime, maybe I'll get my ankle x-ray'd and find out the fate on it.

And speaking of my ankle...I just called the doctor's office to leave him a message to call me ABOUT my ankle. I really hope I can get the x-ray BEFORE my next doctor's appointment on 3/6 - I really need to know whether or not I should be running on it!

So, for Sunday's race there should be about 10 TeamZ peeps running the full marathon and maybe 5 teams of relay runners. It is a very small event - 200 or so people - but it IS a Boston qualifier. Wow, I could be dead last in this if/when I finish! There was one other half marathon I did where I was nearly last. LOL Anyway, I could start 1 hour early, just in case. At this point I do not think I will, because the course is open for 6 hours and even with walking and going slow I should be done in that amount of time based on my other two marathons. *fingers crossed*

And speaking of Team Z...There are many other Z peeps running marathons this weekend as well: some of the team is heading to Myrtle Beach for that event and others to Austin for that one. This is all in preparation for IM races coming up in July! Good luck Team Z!

Marathon time...

Well, marathon time is not for about 2 months yet! I just did the online entry into the George Washington (GW - like me!) Birthday Marathon to be held on Sunday, February 15th. If all goes well I will be participating in this event. At least I am 'on track' for it training schedule-wise. My team is doing marathons that same weekend in Myrtle Beach, SC and Austin, TX. I even got up this morning and did a little spinning - since I missed my spin last night. I did not miss it, per se, I chose not to go to/do it. I did most of my Christmas cards, instead, which was also important! I feel very good to have gotten those taken care of.

Speaking of spinning and training, this has been a pretty good week for me, training-wise, especially since I got up this morning and did a bit of spinning. This means I have done every workout or shortened version of a workout every day this week...so far! I'm completely STOKED about this. Seriously. I think it is a first! Even though I had a kind of cruddy swim practice yesterday, I'm really happy about my training week. Wheeeee!

Busy weekend: Patrick is running in his first Varsity indoor track meet in the 4x800 (the first event) and has a chance to earn a spot in the 1000 run later in the meet...it depends on his relay split. Go Patrick! Andrew has a Varsity Quad Wrestling meet at his school. Andrew is always concerned about making weight and yesterday was trying to survive on ONE PIECE OF TOAST. I made him eat pizza and explained that his body would kick into starvation mode and start conserving instead of burning... Of course, if his weight it up I will feel bad, but I am hoping that all will be well. I might need to talk to the coach and athletic trainers... I explained to him that he needs to eat for strength and of course he won't have energy to wrestling in his matches if he does not fuel his body!!! Hopefully he will weigh in just fine...

For tomorrow's wrestling meet, tonight I am cooking up some taco meat (about 5 pounds worth) for the concession stand. We also need to supply a case of soda and a case of water. Current plan for tomorrow: Go to track meet. Watch and cheer on Patrick. Leave when Patrick is done (after relay? or after 1000?). Depending on the time - run 10 miles per training schedule. Go to wrestling meet. Watch and cheer on Andrew. Run 10 miles if not done earlier. Dinner with Jeff and friends Lisa and Steve - we are taking them out as a thank you from my father for all they did for his 90th birthday celebration!

I'm looking forward to my dinner tomorrow night. We are meeting up in Old Town, Alexandria to enjoy the scenery and have a good meal. We will have a drink at an Irish place, have dinner, and have ice cream after. We are going to walk around - regardless of the weather - and enjoy the beautiful decorations that are up!

Sunday training calls for a 4 hour bike ride...this is now weather permitting due to the wintery stuff/rain that is coming into town. The coach is trying to arrange a room for spinning for 1-3 hours if weather is too bad to go out. If that is the case I might just have to do this because I need TIS! (Time in saddle!)