Three days away

So it's three days before the NYC Marathon, and the whole city seems to be abuzz with pre-marathon energy.  The international runners have started arriving in town.  The stands at the finish have been set up in Central Park.  The NYC Marathon Blog is posting new entries so fast it's hard to keep up.  And, of course, my Facebook feed is constantly streaming with updates about last-minute anxieties and excitement, and news from the Expo, which started today.

Meanwhile, though I hate to be a Debbie Downer, I've been feeling like I haven't had the same level of excitement about this race as I did before my other marathons.  Running Chicago less than three weeks ago really wore me out, both physically and mentally.  I feel like I've spent the last two and a half weeks trying to recover (but not necessarily succeeding).  Before Chicago, I felt in great shape, and I was determined to get a PR and qualify for Boston.  But since then, I've been dogged by this nagging butt pain, which is back today after my five miler yesterday.  I also noticed something going on in my left calf, which pretty much came out of nowhere since I've never had an issue with that calf.  And although I don't think these physical ailments are debilitating, I feel like they've contributed to my somewhat ambivalence towards Sunday's race. 

I think another thing that contributed to this feeling was the fact that I could not think of a goal for the marathon.  I know I don't have it in me to get another sub-3:10.  But after my performance in Chicago, which I am so, so happy about, I feel like it's hard to get excited about doing a marathon that will be significantly slower.  This will not be my first time doing back-to-back marathons.  Last fall, I did Chicago and then NYC three weeks later.  This past spring, I did Virginia Beach, the Ohio River Runners Marathon, and Big Sur in the span of five weeks.  The difference with those times, though, is that with Chicago 2008 and Virginia Beach 2009, I had rather disappointing runs, and I was determined to do better on my next race.  This time, I know I can only do worse. 

So I've been trying to counteract that feeling and get excited about NYC.  Yesterday, I went to the FRNY fun run.  I wore my 2009 Chicago Marathon T-shirt to the run to put me in a good mood, and I'm happy to say it worked.  I let out a big gay scream when I walked into Rutgers Church because there was Josh, standing there wearing the same shirt!  That was a good start.  :-)

(BTW, Josh had an awesome race in Chicago, finishing in a ridiculous 2:49:23--that's a 6:27 pace!).

The Wednesday fun run before the marathon is actually one of my favorite runs of the year.  This is because it's usually the first time that I see the finishing chute all set up in front of Tavern on the Green, and that always gets me excited about the marathon.  I was happy to see it yesterday, and I pictured myself crossing that finish line and feeling so great at the end of the race.  It made me realize that I really did want to do the marathon, and that I was excited about running it.  My feelings otherwise were just the normal anxieties that everyone feels before the big race.  And I'm determined to channel that nervous energy into having a great race on Sunday.

Now I'm not trying to kid myself, either.  I'm not going to set a new PR.  But I'm going into it with a plan to have fun and do my best.  If I had to make a numerical goal, I think I'd like to get somewhere in the 3:20ish range.  Ideally, I'd like to start off slower and get negative splits.  But for me, this race is not about the time; it's about having fun, seeing New York, and running the greatest race in the world!