This time tomorrow ....

It will be done.

Today was a beautiful fall day in the nation's capital. I had my host drive me the first 9 miles of the course so I could judge the hills. He offered to make excuses to all of you that, yes, indeed, I did run the race while I slipped away to avoid the hills of Arlington. The first two miles present a 200 foot elevation gain followed by a 3 degree ascent of Rock Creek. By mile 6.5 I will have used hill climbing muscles heretofore untested to such extreme.

Host Gil dropped me off at the Armory to register. The entry line snaked all outside the building. It took 30 minutes to get in but once inside everything went quickly. Running Chick Michelle was already in the Armory with her Army hubby, retired Marine dad and hubby's commanding officer while in Iraq. Only the CO will run the race. Dad and hubby are the elite support team. M and I were excited to see each other and start synching up for the run tomorrow. we have set a 9:45 mile pace as our gold standard. I may talk her down to 9:55 on the watch timer reminder and establish that as the silver medal pace to beat.

I made a technical shirt purchase. They didn't have any of what I wanted in my size so I asked a staff person to check in the back. There were none but he volunteered that that other guy over there might sell me the shirt off his back. In fact he did. So I now own a Staff issue MCM tech shirt. Oo-rah.

We met up with Rich (Plano, TX) at the Armory and called Bex to make lunch plans. We met at a tapas bar in midtown and enjoyed a late lunch and took a bunch more pictures, none of which I can post because the cable doesn't fit in any ports on the Apple. As Michelle reminded me, I am NOT to erase any picture before saving them somewhere. So I am being very careful.

Now it's time to rest and focus on the morning routine. Dinner with some old college mates is still ahead but I am in for the night. And what more can you ask for when you can have an extra hour sleep before a marathon? Sweet.

The forecast is sunny and 46F (feeling like 40) at the start with winds ranging from 15-20 mph all morning. Temps will peak at 56 (feeling like 51). I think I'll be wearing a cap and gloves. In those conditions I may not toss the long sleeve cover for awhile. We'll see.

Okay. I'm here and, yes, it's raining

Air travel today was a marathon all by itself. I mis-timed my parking and shuttle requirements and missed my 745 flight to Cincinnati that would take me to D.C.. Not overreacting, I worked with a kindly flight agent who scarfed up a seat for me the minute it opened on a booked solid flight to Atlanta, which then routed me to Dulles. I made it to DC just at 500 (four hours late) and crossed the finish line into a comfy chair at the Washington Press Club bar where my good host bought me a beer. Ahhhhh.

By 600 I was at Zola's to meet Bex, Jeanne, Susie, Rick and friends for dinner. Much fun and frolic was had by all. A LOT of pictures were taken but I am on borrowed equipment here and haven't figured out the plug ins so you'll have to go to Bex or Jeanne's site for the glorious photos. At dinner I loaded up on Omega 3 with my salmon entree. Yum.

Plan is to meet up at the Expo tomorrow and have lunch or something. Try not to be too touristy on my feet.

Thanks for the good wishes. I feel ready.

Broken training

Today was the first day I skipped in my training for Sunday's marathon. I had to shuttle Mrs. T and two colleagues to the airport at 6 a.m. and everything since then has prevented a short easy 20 minute jog. I consider that a nothing lost skip.

This will be my last post until after the race unless I am fortunate enough to find a computer somewhere (likely) up in DC.

Firing Up

Jeanne fired me up with her last post about the upcoming MCM race. I am feeling good, strong and healthy. My weight has dipped to about where I want it pre-race (151). I cut out the ice cream other fatty items that sneak into my diet. I hold it to one beer a night, no beef, more fruit and copious amounts of pasta/carbos. [Tangential aside: anybody remember rocket-armed outfielder Bernie Carbo with the Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox back in the '70s? Hell of an arm and good power.]

My other principal sidekick, Jason, who did make it to Chicago, PRed in 4:26 or something. Now I have a time to shoot for. He had a good time despite some un-Florida-like conditions (low 40s).

Today was the first cold day in Florida. When I went out at 600 to run for 30 minutes I believed it was in the high 50s but it was actually more like 52. Plus Florida cold is colder than the temperature because of the humidity. It is a wet cold that eats through all clothing. I wore shorts, short sleeve shirt and shoes. It took me almost a mile to warm up and my hands were a bit nipped but, by the time I finished, I was toasty. It was a good sampling of the best DC may offer. Given that, I am confident in my planned race kit; but, as Jeanne recommended, I will pack everything, just in case. I am considering cutting the toes out of some tube socks and pulling them over my forearms until I warm up, then tossing them.

I figured out what the third thing is in my 'Marines' experience. As you may have read previously: (1) was the Marine Corps Band, (2) will be the USMC Marathon and (3) turned out to be Flags of Our Fathers, the movie. Powerful and informative. Nevertheless, I am still backing Army in honor of son T.

Hoo-ah!

Record Heat. No Record Run.

I went downtown for my Sunday morning run to find the streets blocked off. Today is the exotic car show. 250 very expensive and quite a few old one-of-a-kind cars have taken over the avenue. I parked right in front of Starbucks and jogged up to where we usually start and found five others waiting to run.

We moved out as the cars were arriving to be parked, polished and judged. When we came back, they were all in position and sparkling.

In the middling time we went out at a slow pace. I set my timer to repeat every 9:45 in hopes of being at mile markers each time it went off. We did fairly well at that. I will do it again next Sunday in DC at the race to keep on pace.

We are having record heat down here. In the 90s again today and just maybe 72 this morning. I sweated like it was August.

Going slow (9:45-10:00) and only ten miles allowed me to get a sense of the pace I want to try and it left me with legs towards the end of the run. I left the pack with about two miles to go and jacked it up to finish just under 10 minutes per mile. Somehow I lost the 9:45 pace but I do not remember when.

Four on Tuesday and four on Thursday is all I have left. Then north to the chilly and wet forecasted DC area to see Bex, Jeanne, Michelle and Susie, among others.