1- We are here!! Josh and I drove (actually: he drove) 5 hours last night and arrived at our hotel (staying at the beach about ~40 min away) at midnight.
Josh had the idea to choose a beach hotel rather than one right near the start and I am so glad he did – this makes it feel much more like a mini vacation.
2- Carb load is on. I remember looking forward to the carb lard for Bayshore but then feeling pretty disgusting 2 days in. This time I wasn’t even very excited about it. But I am pretty sure I got in over 400g carbs yesterday and I plan to repeat today. (I used Meghann Featherstun’s calculator for the May race and it worked, so trying to come close to doing it again).
Yesterday I had: many graham crackers, waffles with syrup, lemonade, a bunch of veggie straws, and a sandwich and fries for dinner. About to start on some grahams this morning probably followed by a bagel. Good times.
3- Weather is . . . okayyyyyish. I’m a little bit disappointed about the weather, not going to lie. Here’s the forecast as of now for the hours of the race:
Could it be worse? Yes. If this was weather for an everyday run, I’d say it was great! I definitely still consider anything under 70 to be relatively cool.
Could it be a lot better? Yes. Ideally, marathons are 50s temps, maybe 40s or low 60s. Getting close to 70 by the end might hurt. And what’s up with those winds!? I guess they will help when they are going in the right direction!
This isn’t THAAAT different from the weather I raced in this May (just found the stat):
It’s really just the ending temps I’m worried about. If I could finish in 2 hours like an elite tomorrow we’d be fine. Lol.
4- Repeating history: I’m wearing the same exact outfit I wore for Bayshore including a new pair of the same shoes (latest version of the Asics MetaSpeed Edge). I guess . . trying to not mess with success! I’m going to tweak my playlist slightly (I feel like I need to add some songs from Wicked!) but that will mostly be the same, too.
5- Tracking: It appears you can track here if you enter my name. (Josh too!). Apparently there’s also an app called SPLIFE. Maybe one of these will work 🙂
My goal is to BQ by 5 minutes (2026 standard), which is a 3:40 or 8:23/mi average, 5 minutes slower than May. I feel like this would likely be a safe BQ (since they just lowered the standards by 5 minutes, I can’t imagine the cutoff being MORE than 5 minutes below that, though anything is possible!) and I really really REALLY want to run Boston in 2026!
Josh’s goal is similar, to BQ by at least a few min in his age group. He struggled with getting in some of the longer runs and got sick with the same virus I did last week, so he’s not sure what to expect but his attitude seems decent!
If it doesn’t work out tomorrow . . . I (we) will be choosing a spring marathon. So this race will determine my running plans + goals for 2025!! I’m honestly okay either way. Excited to see how it all pans out! At least we made it to the starting line — this was the race we were supposed to run in Dec 2023 and then I had my crazy car injury and Josh had a running injury. Grateful to be here in one piece!
All right . . off to eat a bunch of carbs, catch up on email/work, and pick up my bib!!!! Will report back tomorrow.
13 Comments
While I fully understand the purpose of carb loading and believe it serves a purpose, the idea of 400 grams of carbs in a day makes my stomach hurt…and I say that as I polish off a piece of fudge…
Does carb loading like that affect the race day poop? Feel free not to answer if you think that’s tmi, but I’d be totally worried about messing that schedule up before a marathon!
Ever thought about Grandma’s marathon? It’s supposed to be flat, and if it’s not cold in Duluth in June then I don’t know what (I did hear it rained last year though, which was also probably suboptimal!
I also recently learned of the Beaver Freezer marathon in Sault Ste Marie Ontario on March 8th. You can ski, fat bike, *or* run that one. If I were more crazy like you I might consider doing something like this! (Not to be confused with the triathlon in Oregon that takes place in April).
Good luck! As someone who hasn’t run in weather warmer than 60 degrees in over a year, I can empathize with your feelings about the weather. I am sure you’ll do great though!
Hahaha nerves always make race day bathroom no prob at all for me!!! Like the body just knows …
Grandma’s is supposed to be awesome. I would def consider. I love the idea of skiing a marathon instead of running it but for me would have to be downhill! Ha.
Good luck!!!!!!!! I wish it were cooler for you, especially because we’re coming off of two perfect race weekends in Central Florida. I’ll be tracking you guys :). I hope you have a great experience.
good luck and have fun!!!
Carmel Marathon in April! We are a suburb north of Indianapolis and I promise you it has been years since it broke 60 on race day (if ever!). I’m doing the 10k, but I would stay on the course to cheer for you if you did the marathon. Overall elevation change for the whole race is something like 100 feet. It’s a pretty popular BQ race.
But also good luck to you running Bayshore! I hope you have an awesome race.
this sounds perfect except we’ll be on a boat in the Bahamas 🙂 🙂 🙂 will keep in mind for future though!!
Good luck!! Have an awesome race!
Good luck! I will be tracking! That does not look like great weather, especially the strong winds. We had really windy weather here in Minneapolis for our marathon in October. It was fine when it was to your back but there was a good stretch when they were running into the wind. I hope it’s to your back!
Marathon weather is so fickle. Theoretically, Duluth Mn shouldn’t be hot in June and yet there are years where it was hot so you just never know!!
It’s a loop, so I guess winds . . part of the time? Yeah I agree – NOT ideal 🙁
Good luck, Sarah! I’ll be tracking you. Hope you’ll have an amazing race.
Good luck tomorrow! You are strong and dedicated, and I hope the day comes together. No matter what the time, I hope you are able to find joy in the experience!