Down to Confederation Park this afternoon to grab my race kit, which is always a neat experience. Makes me feel like a member of some cool, moderately healthy club. I never factor in the race t-shirt, the medal or the various other swag you get when I sign up so it always seems like an unexpected present to get the stuff. It's like getting money back for empties at the beer store: the deposit is just factored into the price and the cash I get back seems like free money.
The technical t-shirt is OK. I like the red and the material seems nice. I got the medium, though it seems unusually long in the arms. I'm not crazy about the design: too much writing on the front. I want it to say DREW'S FIRST MARATHON but I think I'll have to get those made up myself. I was looking at some other Road2Hope clothes but held off getting the VISA out. I figure the one T and the finishing medal is probably enough evidence.
Carmelina Prete, Spec reporter and fellow runner, has a piece on marathon pace setters in tomorrow's paper. I'll link to it in the morning. While the focus is on the high end guys who are trying to help break the Canadian record, there is also a little on pace bunnies who help set the tempo for us plodders. I'm not planning to use the 4hr pace group - I've got my own plan and I'm sticking to it - but I suppose I'm bound to come across them at some point.
I feel rested and ready. I feel strangely calm, as if my body and mind are preparing themselves for what they know is a Herculean effort ahead. I find myself thinking a lot about the last 10km, that unknown territory where I expect things will be really difficult. I'm trying to visualize what that's going to feel like physically and mentally so I don't crack when hurting really arrives. I feel confident I can do that first 32 - it's the last 10km that scare me.
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