weather

Wow, the weather looks like its coming around nicely for the little jaunt in Percy Warner Park on November 23rd. I favor cooler weather to run a marathon. Overcast and 45 degrees would probably be about ideal. When the temperature gets above 60 degrees my performance suffers and I start having dehydration issues.

Weather is one factor that is uncontrollable for the marathon. The only adjustment would be to slow down the pace if the temperatures weren't favorable, for me above 60 degrees. Don't know if it's the accountant in me that makes me so obsessive about the race or I'm just OCD. Read a great book about performing at your best. "Programmed to Run", Thomas S.Miller, PhD. Bottom line, you put in the training and you get it back on race day. Reap what you sow.

Taper time just makes me edgy. I'm still 9 days out from the race. Got my bib number from the website, 477. The first year Trent let runners pick their bib number. He continues to let the veterans keep the same number. He's -1. Don't know what the numbering scheme is this year. Some numbers are into the 500's and this is just the 3rd year of the marathon. 139 monkey virgins, 76 veterans and 28 coming back for the 3rd time. Almost half the field is from out of state. (I dumped the entrant list into an Excel spreadsheet, just for grins) Longest distance probably goes to the runner from Austria or maybe its Australia. The monkey has truly gone international.

Easy 4 miles on the gravel on the "under construction" Old Fort Parkway, Barfield connector trail this morning. They've put down another 6 inches of the super small gravel and flattened and smoothed it out. Super nice running surface. That was me without any rhythm listening to Willie sing a jazz version of Caldonia with Wynton Marsalis.