48 Hours

48 hours from now I will likely be enjoying a mimosa as I descend Mill Mountain as part of the Blue Ridge Marathon.

I’ll be missing my main partner in crime, though. Guess I’ll just have to drink for her!

This will be marathon #7 and Blue Ridge #2.  For a girl who never used to run, that’s saying something!

The weather is looking spotty.  Maybe rain.  Maybe crazy humidity.  At least there will be cloud cover so I won’t burn my ears and have massive burn lines on the back of my calves (CWX capris, apparently, make a very good sun barrier!).  I’m still packing sun screen, though.  And Vaseline.  And wool socks.

I’ve said it a million times but BRM can eat you up and spit you out if you aren’t careful.  As with last year, I plan on this to be a “joy” race.   I’ll start my Garmin (just so I can play with numbers later) and then stash it in my pack until the final mile.

My only goals are:

A) Keep my ess together enough to partake in the fun on Peakwood.  I was a mess at that point last year and I’m very sad I wasn’t able to hang out for a minute up there.

B) Keep my ess together enough to support anyone running with me.  I will have at least 1, and maybe 3, runners with me and I want to give them as much support as I can.

C) Have fun.

D) Get at least one good race picture.

Easy!

Uh, since LR took 52 hours to be born, I may want to rethink this…

Overall, this training cycle has been fantastic!  I’ve been hitting paces that I’ve never dreamed of (my tempo runs are in the low 8s!  What the what??!) and I’m feeling super strong.  While I have no intention of “racing” on Saturday, I have been using my training to create a super solid base for the fall.  This race is a celebration of my hard work and a nice set up to my summer strength work.

The new Wonder Woman looks fun but Lynda Carter will always be the one and only!

So, once more unto the breach, dear friends! Time to climb some mountains!