The Last days - Taper Carb loading Maddness

New Shoes - i'm not wearing for the marathon

Heading out from Yorkville

This is it. It's the night before the Marathon. I am depending on my 16 weeks of training to get me through 26.2 miles tomorrow starting at 8am. Last week We didn't run too much. Nothing really too eventful. It was actually nice not to run so much. My legs felt so pain free and relaxed... it was Great. This week I wanted to run more. I only did 6 on Tuesday, 5 on Thursday and 4 on Friday. I started eating lots of carbs Wednesday. 3-400 grams per day. I won't be craving pasta for a LONG while. Today we headed out at 7am - drove 6.5ish hours to the expo.

Pumpkin Pancakes to aid in Carb loading

Entering the EXPO

Dinner - It was Awesome

Got Chips, Greek Yougart, Sausage, some wierd veggie mix stuff & some other samples. they were good. Pineapple Greek yogurt is awesome. For dinner we made pasta and garlic bread in the hotel rooms.... Im so full of pasta bread and water. i'm so sick of drinking water. I want to move around and go explor the city... but NOOOO I have to rest. I feel good. I feel ready. I feel like I have lots of energy - rest - and gloyclosigin. I still have not decided what to wear. it's going to be around 50... i wante to wear just a sports bra and shorts, but i'm not sure. Also not sure abut wearing a wearing a water belt. Choices Choices.
So here is what I learned from the taper so far.

3rd week to the end of the training program = longest run.

2nd week till marathon = cut back to 80% of your mileage

1 week before the marathon =  Cut back mileage around 50%.

Week of the marathon (here is where it gets hard and complicated)

1/3rd of mileage. - 4 days of carbs - I tried for 70% of my calories

At least 8 hours of sleep all week

LOTS of water (this gets really annoying - I was up 3 times every night having to go to the bathroom! Not fun because my bathroom is all the way down stairs and my house gets rather chili at night)

Don't do anything new on marathon day (that means food, drinks, activities, clothing & shoes) I am however going to wear a new pair of socks I got possibly... Got them at the expo and they are AWESOME!

That's about it. I'll write about how it goes tomorrow - Hopefully all this prep and hard work and dedication will pay off and I will have a great run. I love all the sport I have gotten from my co-workers and friends. Lots of people have wished me good luck, my facebook page is full of little good luck notes and last words of advice - Even my runner friends from the web (Lose it) have sent me emails and written on my Lose it Page. Its awesome. They will defiantly help me through it. Sometimes I get sick of just how much I talk about running... but I still have people that at lest pretend to listen to me and be interested in what i'm saying. I think I have even started some new runners - or at least a desire to run - I have 2 running schedule requests! I guess that's it. I'm exited!!! a little nervous. hoping for the best. Looking forward to "life after marathon" Looking forward to the pizza and wine party tomorrow night & actually being able to explore the city. Here we go!