Marathon time!

Ok, getting excited! I've been looking forward to going to Boston for a while, but now it's time to stop planning and start packing. Leaving on Friday, the race is on Monday, and then I'm off to California for a work conference. The weather forecast looks to be close to ideal, although maybe just a little on the warm side. I've got to admit, I'm a little nervous. It's hard enough to trust your training without having major autoimmune disease issues. I mean, is my swollen knee (see picture, it's the left one) and recent outbreak of foot blisters my body's way of warning me against doing this? Or is it merely my mind playing games with me during a taper? During this phase in training, it's not uncommon to suffer panic attacks over phantom body issues that would otherwise not even be on the radar. My certainty is that I have no idea what will happen. PR's or DNF's be damned, my most immediate concern is how I'm going to fit an entire camera into my shorts.

The plan is to leave Friday morning, arrive Friday night. Long travel day. Saturday is cruising the expo and then touristy ventures like the Freedom Trail and Harvard Square. Sunday is whatever I didn't hit on Saturday until it's time for the 1:30 Sox game. Monday is the race, after which I plan to do some heavy sampling of the local craft beers.

Ran about 6 miles today, 4 at a sub-8:00 pace. I want to say that I was just practicing my ideal race pace, but like I said... I have no idea what will happen after I cross the starting line. And today it was tough to make it through this workout, which should have been a pleasure cruise. Trying to chalk it up to the taper effect and not worry about it. My goal is twofold: 1) have a 26-mile party and enjoy myself immensely, but still 2) have a good enough race time to be happy with my "performance". Goal #2 is the geeked-out runner poking through, hopefully it doesn't ruin Goal #1. Catch you on the flip side, hopefully with lots of pictures...