Taper Taper

Hard to believe it is race week. This year is flying by. Seriously faster than any time I can ever remember. I am guessing it will continue to trend that way as I get older.

This weekend will be my first ever marathon. It’s on the trails too. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous but I feel pretty confident. I didn’t make all of my long runs for various reasons but I had multiple 20+ mile runs in this training. To date I have not yet even run a marathon. The most I have gone is 24 miles. So there is that but again, I feel pretty confident.

The other part that makes me a little nervous is not being familiar with the trails more up north. I didn’t venture too far up towards Auburn. I’m excited to see them but I don’t quite know what to expect. Once I get towards the southern part of the course I should feel right at home. I know most of those trails now extremely well. I guess I would rather know the end of the course than the beginning. That way I know when I can push and if I need to pull back.

I don’t have any major goals for the race. I think my normal pace on these trails would have me finishing around 4:45 or 5 hours. It’d be sweet if I could hold a 9:30 pace and come in under 4:30. I think that is a bit of a stretch but I have to push for something.

I have a few more really easy runs the rest of the week and then it’s game time on Saturday. I’m getting excited!