Final Days Before I’m Officially a “Marathoner”

Four days from now I will run my first ever marathon. I’m so fricken excited, I can hardly stand myself. This is a biggie on my Life List and I’m here, just about to complete it! I’m thrilled to finally be here after 17 weeks of committed (read: the center of my life, almost) training. I feel so totally ready. I’m downright giddy to be in the easiest week of running (3, 4, and 2 miles). And then there’s the whole raceday itself.

Do you have any idea how many people run a marathon in their lifetime? Go ahead, guess. The percentage is estimated at about 1%. Did you catch that? Let me say it again. ONE PERCENT. The percentage of people who actually complete the entire course or run the entire course is even smaller.

So running this year’s LA Marathon is a pretty big deal for me and my three marathon buddies – Shauna, Laura and Dolores. We’re about to become members of a very small group. We’re about to accomplish something that scares the shit out of most people, something the vast majority of the world will never do, and something that has our family members thinking we’re all a bit nuts. It’s my own personal Mount Everest (for the first part of this year, at least).

The four of us have gone through quite a bit over the last 17 weeks. Over 400 miles of running, a ton of learning and growing, some race-threatening injuries, and some great recoveries. For me, I can honestly say, this marathon journey has already changed my life. I am a different person . . . and I haven’t even run the race yet!! I have become not only a different runner, but a better person.

I’ll share some of the details of our journey in the remaining days leading up to the marathon. For today, let me just share the guidelines we’re all following for this final week. It’s not just the 24 hours before the event that impact your body and the race. It’s the whole week. Our plan of attack goes something like this.

1. Eat great all week long. Yes, that means carb-loading. Not on crappy, processed, unhealthy carbs. On the good stuff like fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, rice and legumes. I’m a vegan so there’s no way meat is on my list, but some of the others in our group are eating the stuff.


2. Have a extra glass of water everyday this week.


3. Don’t eat the crappy white stuff – white rice, white breads, “enriched wheat flour” (aka whole wheat with all the good stuff taken out and a tiny bit shot back in), all refined sugars, etc. Stick with the whole grains.


4. Get really good sleep all week because with nerves and excitement, we may not sleep the best the night before the race.


5. Skip the alcohol. All week? Yep. Enjoy it after the race.


6. Taper according to our training schedule – no matter how great you feel or how counter-intuitive it feels.

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