I haven’t updated since my poor performance in the NJ Marathon, however I feel i’ve ramped it up and bit and got my head on straight for this Sundays Christiana Care Health System Delaware Marathon (boy thats quite a mouthful!)

I managed to get 49 miles in last week, getting my mid-week 12 miler, my weekend 14 miles and my 10 miler (split in two) over the weekend … (along with my normal runs). I’m now in the taper mode again with my last ‘real’ run being tomorrow before I take thursday and friday off to heal up and then get ready for the weekend.

It didn’t take much for me realize the err of my ways in NJ, I just started looking too far ahead instead of sticking to my own motto … ONE MILE AT A TIME. I started going too fast because in the beginning I was trying to bank time for later (looking at FUTURE miles instead of the current mile) .. I wasn’t focusing on my current MILE time, but worrying about my FUTURE mile time. Its all in the mental prep, and I just needed to get my ass kicked to remember it. My suggestion to everyone is to stick to that plan … know your pace, don’t worry about 15 miles later, worry about now, and stick to the plan. If you bank some extra time, thats great, but it shouldn’t be the overall focus!

The weather may or may not cooperate this weekend. They are calling for isolated thunderstorms, however no prolonged rain, which is good. Morning temps in the low 50’s, high for the day in the 70’s … so its going to get HOT, fast! We’ll dress light and be cool in the beginning and i’m NOT taking that fuel belt. That was a waste, it really was. Then the extra shirt I wore, ugh, I carried so much non-essential weight with me, that didn’t help my time …

So I will update again before the race, just posting the fact that I’ve hardened up my mental prep and physically I feel ready to conquer the marathon this weekend. I know what to do, and I WILL do it this time, to hopefully have a better time, and a better experience. Its not all about PR’ing, its about having a good race and feeling decent when you finish .. I have feeling wiped at the end. Harrisburg was the best example of this …

I actually read back to the blog entry just after the Harrisburg marathon, and boy, I should’ve listened to my own advice, here is the post. Its a ditto of what I wrote above!

http://getyourserenity.com/blog/index.php?title=broke_my_pr&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Regardless, I know what I need to do … on to rest …