Mississauga Marathon training: Pre-race

Oh boy, we are just about there. A few random pre-race musings and some race expo stuff below.

Let us have a moment of silence for swingy ponytail race pictures like this:

The ponytail action shot is a Sam specialty. Looks great when you can get it!

There will be no more for a while. Yep, got the hair cut off:

How do other people make selfies look easy? I took like 54 of them and they all look weird.

Sam told me I should be on Instagram, and I'm nothing if not susceptible to peer pressure (like, this whole 'run a marathon' thing). So hey, follow me on instagram! I'll keep the weird looking selfies to a minimum and probably mostly post #seenonmyrun pretty views and such. Expect many sunrises, pictures of the lake, and shots of running shoes and GPS watches.

And these, because they are a thing now. SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY.

I did a couple of short runs this week, just to keep the legs fresh for Sunday. The 6k I did on Wednesday was crazy. I don't think I've ever felt that strong or good on a run before. Magic of the taper? The hair dye seeped into my brain and made me high? Hell if I know, but I'll take it.

So, that's it. The training is done. Looking back, I think it went really well. The winter certainly had its share of challenges (UNDERSTATEMENT). Even with the constant horrible weather, I did almost every planned run, and the ones I missed were in retrospect sensible choices - aches and pains that were serious enough to make me take a step back for a day or two, get some physiotherapy, and get healed up quickly and back to training as soon as possible.

I made the decision early on that I wasn't going to worry about doing speedwork, but instead just focus on getting in the volume, getting my weekly mileage up, and getting in the training runs without injury. I think I accomplished that, and even without speedwork picked up new half marathon and 30k PBs during training. I'm particularly happy with that half marathon PB, which suggests some good things may be in store if I focus on the half for the fall. But that's getting ahead of myself.

Race Expo

The Mississauga race expo is OK - I assume because it's the same weekend as Goodlife a lot of the better vendors go to that expo instead. I was able to grab some assorted free samples, and the kit was pretty loaded with stuff too, which is always nice. I am a little disappointed the shirt isn't Under Armour like it was last year. Last year's shirt is one of my favourite t shirts. The new one is alright, I'll use it, but it's not as good.

Was a kind of thrilling moment walking up to the marathon table instead of the half marathon table!

Kit and samples.

No one go photoshopping your own version of my bib now, OK?

Race Plan.

Finish. Maybe I could set an aggressive goal for this race, but since this is my first marathon, I'm choosing to be a little cautious (or chicken. I prefer to think I'm being sensible). I want to get through this thing in one piece, basically. I don't know how my body and mind will react to the mysterious land beyond 30k, so as much as I'm feeling strong and fast right now, I'd like to start this thing cautiously and hopefully finish it strong. Amy and I will be starting out aiming for a 4:10 finish, and if we speed up in the back half of the race and finish faster, well, that would be fantastic.

And that's it. I'm excited to get this thing done!