Final Thoughts Before NYC 2017

It’s 3 days until the New York City Marathon, and I’m not happy with the current forecast. I might get rained on. Not cool. Also, it’s probably going to be in the lower 60s, and if it’s not raining, it’ll be humid.. Well, I guess I trained in worse weather in August (and even my 48 mile week in October).

My bib number is 68588 if you want to track me. If you want to watch a bunch of people who are way faster than me, the race is on ESPN2. Coverage starts at 9 AM. The professional women start at 9:20, and the professional men start with Wave 1 at 9:50. I don’t start until 11:00.

On an unrelated note, I’m going to have a blog post next week about my run on Tuesday. It was a very good run, and I think there’s a good story there. (Whether I can tell that story well remains to be seen.) My goal is to write it down (in longhand!) while I’m in NYC before the race, since I don’t want to be influenced by the results of the race.

So what am I thinking right now?

I’m a little nervous, partly due to the uncertain weather, but mostly due to the fact that it’s 26.2 freaking miles. And yet, I feel like there’s this determination deep down inside. I know what my goal is: finish in 4:59:59 or better.

I can’t remember if I’ve said it before, and I’m sure it’ll come up when I write my race recap, but there’s a very good chance that this will be my last marathon. It’s very possible that this will be my last chance to break 5 hours. I know that physically, I’m in better shape than 2016, and mentally, I’m in better shape than 2015. It’s been a tough training cycle, even if there haven’t been any disruptive events, like going out of town for a funeral the week before my 20 miler in 2015, or having to cut short a 20 miler due to toe pain like in 2016.

Physically, I feel pretty good right now. Tapering works. Throughout my training, I definitely felt fatigue, but there were very few aches and pains along the way. Progress? I hope so.

All I have to do is stay dry on the outside, stay hydrated on the inside, soak up lots of energy from the crowd (I have no doubt that they’ll be great no matter what the weather brings), leave it all out there on the course, and hopefully, cross the finish line with no regrets.