One week to go

Well there is no turning back now. I have less then one week to go before I go for my first marathon.
I have a wide range of emotions running through me. It's really hard to explain in words the emotions that I am going through.
I still can not get over the fact that I am about to run 26.2 miles. I am not that concerned about time right now.
When I started my training I was going to shot for a 4:45 time, however after I hurt myself and had to take a couple of weeks off I am not sure if I will be able to hit that mark. And I am OK with that. My main goal is still just to finish, to cross that line on my own power. I don't want to bonk out or get picked up by the sweep bus. I believe the time limit is 6:30 and I know I will be able to beat that.
My big thing is that I am going to need to pay close attention to drinking and eating.
When I did that Baltimore half I did not hydrate enough. I knew this because I did not want to get a crap but at the end of the race, I felt like I could not stop drinking. It just tasted so good.
So I am going to make myself pick up a cup of water and a cup of Gatorade at each water station.
I am also going to make sure that I carry some Carb Boom energy gels with me as well. They are going to have some on the course at two different locations, I just don't think that will be enough for me.
So as far as a race day strategy goes that is all I have for now, well that and to have fun and enjoy myself.
As for the day before, well I will be at one of three different locations, 1. hotel room watching some March Madness, 2. poolside or 3. beach side. sitting down with my feet up drinking lots of water/Gatorade. We have a carb loading dinner planned for Sat. night with about 20 other people that will be down there for the race.

So I had a great run yesterday in the rain. Got some funny looks from some people and I tell you even if I was not training to run the Shamrock, I think I would have still been out there. It was not that bad. I have been able to work my pace back up. So looking forward, I will be running in the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in Washington, DC in April. I ran it last year with a finishing time of 1 hour 54 min and change. I hope to be able to beat that by about 10 mins which should be very do able. I feel that I have come a long way in my running so I am looking forward to how I will improve this year.

Well that is all for now. Thanks for reading. Next week I will post a race report as well as a look back on my training and how it went as well as any changes I might look to implement.