Let's Get Ready to Rumble

I'm at the Expo and have my number. I suppose there really is no going back now.

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UPDATE

OK. So I'm back from the Expo, trying to drink water, eat things with salt in, rest my legs and generally take things easy.

It was an exciting day, I had to pick up my number and the chip for my shoe so that I can know the exact time it took me between crossing the start and finish line. Then we looked around at the numerous running booths that you can see set up in the background of the photo of me looking everso excited/nervous above. I wanted new socks but none of these stores had the very specific pair I was looking for (Wrights, double-layer, quarter-length black) so we wondered around and looked at the fun marathon related stuff that can be bought. I wasn't really feeling 1) rich enough and 2) confident enough to buy anything that proclaimed any marathon runner status just yet.

Then we sat and listened to Joan Benoit Samuelson give a talk about her running. She was the first woman to win gold in the marathon at the Olympics back in 1984 (yes, it really did take them that long to accept that women were tough enough for the distance). It was great to hear an Olympian talk about her running and voice lots of the same things that we all feel (jealousy when we see other people out running when we're not and grumpiness when we've missed a run) and amazing to hear someone speak that had done so much for women in this sport.

We met theatremom from the Runner's World discussion board and had a lovely lunch, eating seafood and talking about running and our anticipation of tomorrow's race.

Now we're back at home and I'm trying to relax. I'll lay out my clothes for the morning soon and line up my energy gels and Vaseline; I'll set up the coffee pot to make me coffee at 4am and put out my bowl and porridge. Everything tomorrow needs to run as smoothly as possible so that the only thing I'm nervous about is the run itself and not being late or being able to find my socks. Right now I'm feeling nervous and excited but quietly confident that I'll make it to the end. The question is, just what kind of shape will I be in?


You may be able to track me during the race. As you can see, my bib number is 1970 and you should know my name. Try going here and putting in my details to see how I'm doing. The race starts at 6:30am CST (-6 BST).