Marine Corps Marathon - Final Pre-Thoughts

I'm gearing up for "The People's Marathon," and this will probably be my last post before the big day (Sunday, October 29). Thanks to everyone for the well wishes! I think I'm ready. I can't tell if I'm excited or nervous- probably both.

If anyone wants to know anything about the marathon, the homepage is here. There's a whole mess of fun links on there, like the interactive course map and remote runner tracking. If anyone is really that into monitoring my status, you can even have my progress sent to your cell phone big brother style, thanks to the champion chips.

I guess at this stage in the game the only thing I'm really concerned about is the very start of the race. I'm bib #29023, which is in the "Gold" wave, and we kick off at 8:40 am- all 18,000 of us. I'm told that it actually takes a few miles to get into a running pace. I'm a little afraid that if the start goes wonky it could throw me off right from the beginning, but honestly I usually run faster than the target 9 min/mile so I don't think it will be a problem. Plus, if you check the course elevation map, the only real height change is in the first 3 miles, where you rise and fall about 200 feet.

If you want to know anything else about the pain I'm about to inflict on myself, the final instruction packet is here. I'll try to have a nice little post up about the whole experience early next week. Wish me luck!