3.26.09

After the storm system moved away it was bright and sunny and made for a great run. I took it easy today, and the legs responded well to the day off yesterday. I would even say that during today's run I felt better than I have for a while. The pug tried to chase me again, but this time I fought back with a kick and that sort of stopped him in his tracks. His white pudgy friend also defended me? I've seen him do that before. The white one gets in front of the black and tries to "block" it from getting to me, and also nips at him. The owner was heard yelling behind me as I rounded the corner out of that cul de sac. I had to do a couple more kicks just to be safe though. I really didn't want another bruise/scratch or worse a full bite this close to the marathon. The last scratch hurt more than I had expected, and the bruise is just now going away. Neosporin has helped the cut heal, but it's still kind of open. As long as it doesn't affect my running i'm okay, but sleeping on a bruise prevents sleep, which makes the day worse, so in a way there are other ways it can be bad.

Anyway it was a good run and just two more easy days left now. I think tomorrow 6-8 depending on how I feel, then Saturday 4 in the morning and of course some striders. I tried working out a menu but have been unsuccessful. For now I'm just going to go with lasagna Saturday night, and tomorrow some other kind of pasta, fetuccine alfredo sounds good. Also I'm going to my marathon pack together. I can't get everything until the expo on Saturday, but I'd like to at least have my clothes and all the stuff I do have in one place and ready.

Trying to be as positive as possible. My strategy for the race as of now is to make it 18 miles and then decide what to do based on my pace/time and how I'm holding up. Hopefully I'm doing well at that point and can try to slowly increase pace over the last 6-8 miles. I really want to finish the race strong, rather than burn out and die a slow death at the end. Fortunately I know my body pretty well and should be able to decide that when I get there. I also have to go over my splits again just to get a better of idea of 5k, 10k, and half checkpoints.

5:38pm. home. ??-(warm with nice breeze)
1:13:01, (10.62) gf 627