33 Days 10 Hours and 28 Minutes

The good news is that I got my Garmin watch to do other stuff besides tell time. The bad news is that its battery died today at mile 15.  *Heavy sigh*

Five weeks of training are left. Well, four are left if you take into account the last week of "tapering" when I will be in Cape Town, peeping at penguins, climbing Table Mountain during full moon (sounds so pagan) and washing down seafood and carbs with South African wine. I'm feeling like a real runner, particularly this weekend. You know why? I did not let any douchebaggery get in the way of my training. Yesterday, I ran 7 miles, getting some great hill repeats in. I was feeling fairly worked-up, so I blasted M.I.A. through my headphones and pretended to shoot guns in the air all over Brooklyn Heights. You should try this. 

Today I ran for 3 1/2 hours. I'm not sure exactly how many miles it ended up being since the Garmin battery ran out at the 15th mile. Using the watch, I learned that my comfortable non-racing pace is 9 minute miles. I kind of figured that. I still think this is going to be too fast for me during Two Oceans. I'm going to play it safe by aiming for a steady 10:30 pace so I can finish in under 6 hours. This will also give me the opportunity to take in the gorgeous scenery and stop at the refreshment stations. Today, for fuel I took along a peanut butter cliff bar (ate it an hour in) and a cliff power shot (chocolate). I'm not paid by Cliff Bar, btw. I didn't plan on getting thirsty, which is dumb. I ended up stopping at a Dunkin' Donuts in Carrol Gardens to beg for a cup of water. I'm guessing that my sweaty disheveled appearance did not help but my spandexed booty couldn't have hurt. Especially when I went back for cup number two. The run was pretty uneventful. At one point my toe cramped up and I stopped quickly to take off my shoe and massage my foot. A woman with three little girls in pink jackets stopped to see if I was alright and I said I was and that I'd been running for a couple of hours and they all seemed excited by this. The brief massage and encouragement solved the problem and I kept going, guns in tow.

It's an Uphill Battle

It's not quite two months before race day and I completed my first long training run. It was roughly 21 miles long. I ran a 10.9 mile loop twice (but walked a few of the last blocks on the 2nd loop). My good friend and fellow runner (we've run three marathons and many other races together, although with different finishing times) joined me for the 2nd loop. After making a pit stop at my apartment where I tried out some boiled baby potatoes with butter and salt and some flat coke (both are offered at the refreshment stations on the Two Oceans Marathon course), we headed back out. I think the potatoes were a success! However, I definitely felt as though I'd already run 11 miles. My friend, the gazelle, was springy and fresh while I felt every hill, big and small.

Speaking of hills, the TOM  has two really challenging hills that arrive after already completing 26.2 miles or the distance of a regular marathon: Chapmans Peak (rising 180m or 590ft) and then the big doozy, Constantia Nek (rising 215m or 705ft). Both of them cover about 4 km each of the course. I expect there to be a lot of cursing at this point in the race.

Race Profile. Gnarly.

I found this video that is sort of like a self help video for how to survive Constantia Nek. This dude is so calm. I'm a big believer in being mentally prepared for races. Unfortunately, I haven't always been consistent with this, instead taking it for granted that I know I'll finish. But for this race I'm trying to visualize myself reaching the finish line frequently. I've actually already finished this race half a dozen times in my head. I've also accepted a gold medal and given a victory speech with the American flag draped around my shoulders.

I'd like to increase my mileage over the rest of the month. The general rule is to increase no more than 10 percent a week. This seems like a good idea for me since I have never put in this many miles a month before. Finding the time is going to be the biggest challenge.