Pre-Marathon Odds and Ends

By this time last year I think we had already been out skiing about 5 times, and the majority of the posts on this blog were of a slightly different nature. Lately its been all running as we've built up towards Philadelphia, but the underlying theme has remained the same - live with passion, and attack life with everything you've got!

I've put together a quick rundown of the fall blog posts in case you are really in need of some reading!... plus some random photos that we on my camera...

In September Andrea decided to chase the trials standard along with me. That really got the ball rolling on the running blogging as well. We hosted our first track race (OktoberFAST), then did it again 6 weeks later (Turkey Trot Tune-Up). We raced in Long Beach, CA. Andrea started blogging a lot more about all sorts of things - breakfast, staple foods, how to fix a hamstring injury, and recovery methods. We tried to do a decent job of explaining our training philosophy over the course of several posts - The Daily Grind, BIG workouts, and the importance of shorter, faster running. Sometimes we were TIRED. We shared our thoughts on racing flats, training shoes, and carboloading (nothing new on race day!), among other things. In two of my favorite posts, Andrea talked about her confidence "mood swings" and what she will be using to motivate her in the final miles of the marathon. Finally, I wrote a post on "The Journey" to where we are right now, and how its important to look back and appreciate all of it - not just the end result.

Now, some random odds and ends...

Everyone running a marathon starts checking the 10-day forecast obsessively, right? But everyone also knows that it inevitably will change a lot. Take a look at this slideshow that shows the change from a high chance of BAD weather to a high chance of GREAT weather...



Now some random photos from marathon week...

I've been wearing my warmups all week
(even when we went to the movies)

Andrea has gotten that hamstring under control!
She also is in the 6 month period of the year where
she will ALWAYS be wearing a down jacket.

We put up new drapes. This was a major project as I am a much better athlete and blogger than handyman!

Fuel for 26.2? Its worked so far... why reinvent the wheel?

Andrea wants me to switch to "medium" length hair,
but I shaved it all off for aerodynamics

A lot more baking goes on during the taper when we have nothing else to do.
These are my secret recipe Chocolate Chip Coconut Oatmeal cookies.

Real food is going to taste good after taking down this gross stuff... but it works!
(I actually will admit that I don't mind the plain taste of Vanilla powerbars)

I've been doing lots of extra perfect pushups with my excess energy.
I am also afraid of myself when I look at this picture.

Packing up for the trip to Philly.

This is what we'll be wearing in the airports and on the plane.
Can't risk getting any germs now!

Alright, that is all we have for now. You can track us and find results by clicking here. We're off to the east coast... wish us luck!