The "Plan"

Well tomorrow's the big day! Houston's largest annual sports event is here - the Chevron Houston Marathon/Aramco Half-Marathon/EP 5k!!! Just me and 21,999 of my closest friends. :0) I've been careful with what I've been eating - lots of lean protein and some carbs (but not too many!) and I've been hydrating well.

I went to pick up my packet yesterday and here's the swag that was handed out:




Here are some of the things that I bought...



Yes, you read that shirt right....there were so many cute ones, it was really hard to choose one:


So here's my raceday plan...

5:15 - Arrive at Luke's to meet up with the running girls...we'll carpool to the GRB

5:45 - Arrive at the GRB - parking can be a pain, so it might take awhile

5:45 - 6:30 - Hang out with the girls and see if I can find any other running peeps and wish everyone luck! Oh and eat a couple of Clementine's (oranges) and hit the porta-potties

6:30 - Start stretching, eat a few Honey Bee Stingers

6:45 - Head out to the start (may do this a little earlier)

7:00 - Race starts!

7:10 - My wave starts! WHOOT!

My goal is to run a consistent pace the entire time. I know for sure that the 1st few miles will be very slow due to the vast number of runners. I'm not too worried about this, because there are lots of nice flat areas with lots of enthusiastic spectators where I am sure I will manage to make up for any lost time...the key here is to not get too excited and go too fast.

Between miles 4 & 5 - eat 1/2 packet of Honey Bee Stinger gels. I'll do this again around mile 9...it may not help that late in the game, but it's what I did in my training runs. It's a mental thing. :-)


Mile 10 - 13 are mostly on Allen Parkway and downtown...not too many spectators there. I'll have my ipod with me if I need it, but I don't usually run with it, so I doubt I'll use it. This is the area I tried to visualize on my longer runs. If there's a place I'd want to stop and walk, it would be here. I will not walk. end of story. My goal is to kick it up a bit in the last mile and as they say on beginngertriathlete.com - just HTFU!


So that's it...the "plan". After the race, I am going to head back out on the course and cheer for some of my friends, especially for those who are doing the full for the 1st time ever....you know who you are! :-)


If you're running tomorrow - good luck and have fun!!!