Feb 10 "A goal is a dream with a deadline" --- Boston 2012

"A goal is a dream with a deadline"

65 Days

That is the number of days left until the 116th running of the Boston marathon.  I can tell that the race is getting closer as the number of emails that I am getting from the BAA is increasing.   Pretty soon the emails will contain information on all the swag one can purchase before they run the race including the coveted coat that every runner who completes the marathon is sure to get.  I consider it a badge of honor to wear only AFTER I finish the race.  

As an athlete, I am very superstitious about things that are connected to sporting events.  For example, when I was in high school, at the end of one of our first practices, I found 3 pennies in the school parking lot by my friends car.  I had to pick them up.  Three is my lucky number and they were all face up. Hmmmm, that is a good sign.  I put the pennies in my left spike and played with them there the entire season.  Did they bring me good luck?  You bet.  We won the City Championship of Chicago for softball.  And as for the pennies, I still have them in a box with the shoelaces from my spikes that I wore that magical season.  

I am very superstitious about running events.  For example, I never wear a shirt for a race before I have actually run it.  I feel that completing the run gives you the right to wear the swag. Sometimes I see people wearing the race shirt at the event and I cringe.  I hope that they will be okay.  

Some other superstitions I have are

• before the race starts I like to run through the finish line as a visualization of the end of the race
• if I am going to a 5k race and my family is coming to watch, I have to drive us there and not my husband
• I have some pre-race songs that I have to hear before I step up to the starting line to pump myself up
• I wear a St. Christopher medal to protect me as a travel the course
• I say a Hail Mary before the race begins
• I can buy as much swag for a race as I want, but I cannot wear it until I have completed the course.  The first time I ran Boston, I purchased my coat at the expo and hung it up out of sight in the closet until I came back from my race.
• I wore the same hat for every marathon until I qualified for the first time for Boston.  After my first Boston Marathon I retired that hat and it is now sitting in my trophy case alongside my first Boston medal.
• I have a lucky pair of socks that I only wear for marathons.  They are kept separate from my other pairs and are only worn on that one day.  Oh, and I do wash them in between races.  
• I always lay my clothes out the night before along with everything that I am bringing to the start.  
• I always set two alarms the night before the race to be sure that I don't oversleep.  
• I always eat so much plain pasta the night before the race that I feel like I am going to pop.

So the big questions is, last year when I ran Boston, I dropped 20 minutes off my previous time and set a PR.  I was also wearing a Boston Red Sox (one of my favorite teams) hat. So, do I wear it again?  Or do I try and break out of the mold and do something different.  Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Todays Workout:
Planned:    22 Mile Bike Ride     Fartleks and EZ

Completed:   22 Mile Bike Ride  Fartleks and EZ Mix