Five Miles: Five Days To Go

Picked up another pair of Brooks Racer ST3 today – my favorite shoe for the classic marathon distance. I already own two pairs of the lightweight ST3’s, but wanted a new pair for Sunday’s Frederick Marathon which will give me maximum support and maximum cushioning. I know what you’re thinking – never wear brand new shoes in a race (especially a marathon) – but I’m familiar enough with the shoe to know it will be fine right out of the box and shouldn’t cause me any problems in the race. Naturally I’ll try the shoes out “just in case” of course…

Anyway, onto tonight’s run – a five mile slow/fast/slow/fast/slow effort (in my new ST3’s). The wind was still quite blustery today (nothing like yesterday’s tornado conditions of course), but the sun was shining and it was a very pleasant afternoon for a run. First mile was a 7:26 into the wind, which I followed up with a 6:49 also into the wind. The new shoes felt great and will definitely accompany me on my trip to Frederick this weekend.

I decided to slow it down a bit on the third mile (after all my race is on Sunday, not tonight) and recorded a 7:08 split. However, on my way home, with a nice tailwind and spring in my step, I couldn’t help but pick up the pace. The fourth mile was almost marathon pace (6:38) and despite “trying” to slow down for the last leg of the run, I still managed a 6:43 fifth mile.

On reflection, the shoes were wonderful. No hotspots, no blisters and no surprises. Actually the only thing different was the colorway – a lime green and black instead of a bright red and silver. Both are kind of loud but I’m not really bothered what color they are as long as they get me to the finish line in good shape!

My legs are still not feeling 100%, but a few days of taper should take care of that. As Eric just discovered, the taper really messes with your mind and your body, so at this stage I’m not overly concerned about how I’ll feel on race day. Tomorrow sees the start of another Race Day Boost loading cycle, and I guess I won’t be running many more miles this week. I’ll probably run an easy five tomorrow to take my monthly total to 200 and my year-to-date total over the 800 mark, but after that it will just be a few easy miles with a few striders.

Hope everyone’s having a good week. I still haven’t received any guesses for my marathon finish time. Come on, don’t be shy…

PS By the way, my bib# for the marathon is 940 which I’m very happy with. Add up the 9, the 4 and the zero and you get 13 – probably my all time lucky number. Can’t get much better than that can it?