Eve of the race

This will be the second time I've raced a marathon following a failed attempt. The first time was when I ran my Boston marathon qualifying time in 2004 at the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville, Alabama with a 3:17. The failed attempt was 30 days earlier at the Mid-South Championship Marathon,in Wynne, Arkansas. I ran a 3:37 and needed a 3:20. The problem that day was dehydration. I didn't take in enough fluids and the warm weather didn't help either. Warm weather for me, being anything above 60 degrees for the marathon distance.

Weather for tomorrow is about ideal, temperature wise, low 40's to low 50's. Little chance of rain, 10%. I could do without the 12 mph north wind. It shouldn't be enough to slow the pace, only annoying. Perhaps the trees along the greenway will shelter most of it. I know the bridge across the Cumberland river will be especially windy, though we'll only have to deal with it twice.

This is going to be the smallest marathon I've ever run. 34 people signed up as of yesterday. That's not a concern. I don't need the big crowds of the major marathons. If anything that complicates race day. The smaller marathons work out better for race day logistics. The DNF at Snickers was about the perfect size marathon. Maybe 1,500 total runners combined for the marathon and half marathon. We were able to park within 100 yards of the starting line and maybe a quarter mile from the finish line. No buses, no lines, no crowds.

My only real concern with this race is the aid stations. Especially the distance between them. Most are about 3 miles apart, that's adequate. When I run marathons I make a point of taking water at every aid station, usually about 2 miles apart. Gatorade, no thank you. (my belly doesn't tolerate it) Dehydration has always been one of my weakness's. Tomorrow, I may carry a bottle just because of the 5 miles between the mile 18 and mile 23 stations. I've never raced carrying a bottle the total distance, though I usually do in my long runs and for 50k's.

Oh, and my freakin' foot. Never have really figured out what's going on with it. The outside of my heel was super tender/sore/swollen 2 weeks out from the DNF. I did manage to loosen it up with some trigger point massage. But, ever since then its taken a couple of miles for it to loosen up. Thought at one point it was Haglund's deformity. It's in the exact spot where my heel rests on the floor of my car every morning in the commute to Nashville.