The Final Countdown

Now that I have that song stuck in your head....enjoy the rest of my post!

I know my posting has been light the last few weeks. I am nearing the end of my PhD, and most of my time and energy has been focused on working. In the meant time, I have been tapering for the Outer Banks Marathon, which is now only 3 days away!!

If you read the November issue of Runner's World, you have probably seen a little taste of this marathon in this article. It made me so excited to see this race featured!

The course is a mostly flat point to point race. Just before the halfway point, there are a few miles on a packed dirt trail, but otherwise the remainder is on the roads. On my training runs, I tried to run a few miles on the packed dirt off to the side of the path I run on as some practice. The only major incline is a large bridge at mile 22-23. It is 82 feet tall, and a 4% incline over 650 feet-- yikes! But at least it shouldn't last too long, and the final few miles will be downhill and flat into the finish.

{photo from obx marathon website}

Right now I'm feeling both nervous and excited. I always get a little nervous before a race, especially after putting so much time and energy into training. Like I mentioned in my last post, even though my training didn't quite go exactly as I planned, I'm just going to go out there and give it my all (by the way, thanks for all your positive energy!). I am so much stronger than I was before last year's marathon, and I think that should translate to a better race. Horray for progress!

I have never been to the OBX, so I am pretty excited to hang out at the beach -- I think we will be trying to catch some blue crabs one day. So excited!

I don't think I'll get another chance to post before race day, so see you on the flip side!!

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