Bright and early this morning Eric and I got in the car and drove to Vancouver for the marathon tomorrow! In hindsight, I kind of wish I’d booked our hotel for two nights and we’d come down Friday after work so we could have had this morning to relax in Vancouver and visit the expo at our leisure. Oh well, live and learn!

On the way to the expo from the parking garage we saw the finish line!

Once at the expo I picked up my race bib and then it was time for the Sports Blogger Q&A Panel I participated in with Cori and Brian. It was really fun to participate on this panel and talk about blogging, running and social media. I really enjoyed being a Run Van Blogger and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to do this!

I will post more details about the panel as well as some of the questions I was asked and my answers next week!

I then spent a little bit of time walking around the awesome expo! The Vancouver Marathon organizers really did a great job putting together a fantastic expo!

I am so, so, SO excited about running this amazing new point-to-point route. I found out today that it took 18 months to plan this route!

I also ran into two friends from high school who are doing their first marathon and half-marathon (hi Veronica and Michelle!) It was so cool to hang out with them a bit after all this time (I graduated from high school 6 years ago now!)

After I was done at the expo we went for dinner with Eric’s friend and one of his groomsmen. He took us to this awesome little pasta place where the servings were HUGE! I was planning on just ordering pizza to our hotel room tonight but I’m glad we went for pasta instead, and I definitely feel sufficiently carbo-loaded.

Once we got settled into our hotel Eric and I walked the block to where he’ll meet tomorrow at the 32 km – 20 mile – mark of the race. I know I will be SO READY to see his face at that point. How gorgeous is this area too?

The weather forecast for tomorrow literally could not be more perfect…

See you on the other side! Don’t forget you can track me at www.sportstats.ca and my bib # is 5015!

So I just sat down to write a random post and the weirdest thing happen. I originally titled this post “it’s here” and my blog automatically made the URL its-here-2 meaning I’d already titled a post as that before. I went to check which post it was and it turns out it was written almost exactly three years ago before my first half-marathon and my first race ever, in Vancouver. So weird. I just feel like things are really coming full circle for me right now.

Anyways, I wanted to check in one more time before we leave tomorrow so here are some random ramblings:

I have been really tired lately and sleeping lots. I bailed on my last run with a friend this morning because I was so tired and needed to roll over and go back to sleep. I then proceeded to sleep through my alarm and was running late for work! I am doing one more run right after work today. A little 2-3 mile shakeout run. And then it’s go time. We are heading down first thing tomorrow morning so we can be at the expo for the Sports Blogger Q&A, which is from 1 – 2pm if anyone wants to attend!

I know I’m ready for this. In the last 18 weeks I’ve ran 467.4 miles and 752.2 km. I’ve done almost 40 hours of yoga. I’ve gone through one pair of running shoes and had four massages and three chiropractor ART treatments. I did three 18-mile (29 km) runs and two 20-mile (32 km) runs.

But still, despite all that, it’s sometimes hard not to doubt yourself. Taper does that to your mind.

The race is my reward for all the hard work I’ve put in training so far. I know that. I just need to TRUST MY TRAINING! It also doesn’t hurt that the forecast is perfect on Sunday. Sunny with a high of 16 C and a low of 9 C. *knock on wood*

I will try to throw up a post tomorrow night recapping the expo! In the meantime, if you want to track me you can do so on http://www.sportstats.ca/ and my bib # is 5015. My race starts on Sunday morning at 8 am PST!

Have a great weekend everyone! GOOD LUCK to everyone that is racing this weekend!!!

Yesterday evening was my last run with my marathon clinic training group! Didn’t I just write this post yesterday?! My how time flies! We had a super fun run going “down memory lane” as my coach put it. We ran out to the compost (where we used to go every Wednesday during all of our slow, base building 10K runs at the beginning of training) then to the track for 1 km at marathon pace and then to our old hill stomping grounds for one hill repeat. It was especially fun to run down the compost road in the daylight since the last time we ran it in February it was pitch black!

Here is a photo I got of my group after the run. Only one person is missing!

I felt really terrible last night when we first started our run. My legs felt heavy and tired and my stomach was off and I just felt slow and sluggish. I’ve been through taper many times with all the other long-distance races I’ve trained for and the one other marathon I did but it still messes with my mind every. single. time.

Apparently after all the high mileage we’ve been doing our legs get “crud” built up in them and that’s why a some runs the week of the marathon to fine tune things is good. I am planning on resting completely today and doing one more small run tomorrow morning. Other than that the next few days are for hydrating, tiger tail rolling, sleeping and eating! Sounds OK to me!

I haven’t really talked about my goals for this marathon yet. I’ve tossed around my 4:30 goal time quite a few times and it is something that’s at the forefront of my mind. However, more than anything I just want to have a good race. I want to smile and have fun and I don’t want to be in tears when I cross the finish line. Even if I run it 20 minutes slower as long as I feel good and I have fun, I will be happy and it will be a “PR” in my eyes.

When I ran my first marathon I didn’t really know what to expect. I remember Lisa (who I ran it with and who had ran a marathon before) told me that she felt like a mother about to have her second child and I was about to have my first. You just cannot adequately explain to someone what the experience is like. I am going into this marathon with a much better feeling. I know I’ve put in the training and I know that it’s going to be really hard at points, but that I can get through it.

I am so excited. 3 sleeps! 

By the way, if you are running Vancouver I am going to be participating in the Sports Blogger Q&A panel during the Speaker Series from 1 – 2 PM on Saturday afternoon on the Expo Main Stage at Canada Place. More details here! Hope to see a few people there