33 down, 19 to go!

I woke up very nervous. Not about my marathon planned for today, but for my 100 mile run next Saturday (www.leanhorse.com). I'll post more about this in the days to come, but I just didn't feel ready. I know I had some great training in the last month, but with the extreme bout of dehydration that I went through two weeks ago (See August 2nd), I'm just nervous about having my body ready for race day. And I will be the first to admit that my marathon streak is not the best idea when (a) training for (b) tapering for and (c) recovering from, a 100 mile run. So I was nervous.

But today really helped. My running partner Laura began last night about 11:00 for a 45 mile run. Her and Dave, Dawne and Pam (TNT coaches/friends) started running from my house at 11:00. I saw them off, got a couple hours of sleep and was ready to meet them at 2:30 for my marathon, and the last 28 or so for Laura. I started slow, and finished slow, but never once felt fatigued. The pace (around 11 min/miles) was perfect preparation for Lean Horse. The temperature was great, my hydration was great, and my food/energy was great. Huge confidence builder.

I want to make a quick mention that I was able to try out my new headlamp today. Its a Brunton L5 headlamp. It puts out 5 watts - huge compared to my .3 watt headlamp that I have been using. Its very cool. Almost like running with a huge floodlight out in front of you. This will be very nice to have with me as I attempt the 100 miles solo (no pacers).

Total time today was 5:48. There was a lot of stop time in there. Average heart rate was 116, and max was 144. I know that is way too slow. But the fact that I was able to keep everything under control gives me some confidence.