Another Marathon

Tomorrow, in fact in just a few hours, I will be running the Frederick marathon, which will be my fourth run of that distance. My one request is that if someone is going to assassinate me, please do it early on during the race, not at the end, that would just be mean.

I'm realizing that I'm getting older. I can't just go and run like I used to. I actually have to think about it ahead of time. Now, my legs are all banged up. Various places on my legs are constantly swollen. My legs and feet look like it's after the marathon, not before.

I've run very slowly this time around. My outside goal is still to run under 4 hours, but I'd just like to beat my atrocious personal best of 4:25. The last three runs I've had have probably helped me the most. Last Saturday, I ran during the day for the first time since I've been training. It was 85 degrees and very humid. I was dehydrated from the first step. I wanted to just start walking or quit entirely for most of the run. It was only a 7.5 mile run, but it almost felt like I ran a whole marathon. It was good to feel that much pain and have the will to keep going. On Monday night, I ran a solid 15 miles.

On Wednesday night, I ran a very fast 7 miles, but my run was supposed to be 10 miles. The problem was I shit my pants. It wasn't the usual uncontrollable squirt; it was hardcore. I haven't shit myself like that since I was a baby. I don't really know what happened, probably too much vitamin water and power bars. I should just stick with my usual diet of Caffeine Free Diet Coke and Taco Bell. I waddled home the last half mile. I'm still very embarrassed about it.

Frederick is an interesting place. On the map of the course, the primary landmark is the Wal-Mart. I received a "10 days before the marathon" email 12 days before the marathon. That's TWO days off! A week later I received a "5 days before the marathon" email, so somebody had corrected the mistake. But the website's "countdown until the marathon" was consistently a day off. There will be a prayer service before the race. It's one of those places. I hope I haven't converted to Christianity by the time I finish the race. Hell, to be honest, I just hope I finish the race.