The Final Countdown

I am mostly packed. All my race gear is packed, race drink/food, snacks, instructions, directions, hotel & race confirmations is in. I just have to pack some regular clothes and my electronics: laptop, phone, kindle and their various cords.

All the logistics are worked out for my trip except I just need to figure out where I'm staying Friday night. The drive will be about 7 1/2 hours and I'm hoping to do at least 6 hours on Friday. I'm only working til noon on Friday so I'll get a good start and hopefully beat traffic going over the pass. I would have liked to stay in San Francisco but it's probably best if I don't stop there. I'd be tempted to walk around and see sights since I haven't been there since I was 18. Plus, it would add a little extra bit of drive time. I'll have to save that for December.

On Saturday, I'll sleep in late (6am – yes, that's late for me) and eat breakfast, check out the latest I can and then head up to Santa Rosa, the expo, and my hotel. I will not spend a lot of time at the expo (per my coach Jason – I promise to be good!).

I have my race day plan all worked out. This is only the 4th marathon I'll be doing but I think I've raced enough with the marathons, half marathons, etc. that I have a routine down. This is the plan:

The night before:
Lay out all my gear.
Attach my bib & chip.
Get all my food/drink stuff together.
Relax and read a book (I downloaded some highlander books on my Kindle already to keep me occupied and not thinking about running)
Try and go to sleep early!
Set about 3 alarms (watch, phone, clock ). Just to be sure.

Before:
Get up at 4 and eat 2 mini bagels and a banana and have 20 oz Gu Brew.
Get dressed: Asics top, Moving Comfort shorts, Athlete skirt, CEP compression socks, Saucony Kinvaras, Underarmour hat, Go Sport ID, Garmin
60/90 minutes before: head to the race start
1 hour before: drink water
Hit the porta-potty one last time.
30 min before: have a gu , and S-Cap, and one last gulp of water.

During the race:
I'll be carrying my Ultimate Direction bottle filled with Blueberry Pomegranate Gu Brew and carrying 2 waffles and a Gu.
Every mile, I'll take a swig of the Gu Brew.
Every 5 miles, I'll have half a waffle (I split these in half before and they fit nicely in my skirt pockets) and grab water as I go through the next aid station.
If I’m sweating a lot, I'll take another S-Cap around mile 16.
If I feel I need an extra kick during the last 6 miles, I'll go for the Gu.

The actual race plan is to run between 9:05 and 9:08 splits for each mile, have fun, and finish strong!

This is my last chance to go sub-4 this year. I am running one more marathon in 2011 but it will be a trail marathon and I will not be racing it. I have a lot of hopes pinned on this since this was a goal I set for myself at the beginning of the year. At the time I set the goal, I wasn't sure if I could make it happen but now I think it’s in my reach.

Oh great racing gods of the road, please, please, let all the stars align so I can give it my best shot. If I finish, knowing I gave the best effort I could, I'll be happy whatever happens.

But I'm still visualizing the clock in my head…

3:59