Drago!!!!

I am a little surprised at how little I have written about marathons and running and marathon training in the last few months. It's obviously different now than it was the first couple of times, but it's still something that encompasses so much of my time and attention while I'm doing it.

This time around was much harder for me, training-wise. Maybe it's just being in a dating relationship, but I have been so resistant to running and spending as much time in the past to run this time around. As a result, I have no expectations when it comes to my time tomorrow because I really just don't know. I have had an incredible range in how I've felt on each of my long runs, and how I've been able to run that I really can't tell what this time will be like. Couple all of that with the different type of running course and I really can't say whether I'll be faster or slower, or feel better or worse when I cross that finish line tomorrow. The only thing I'd really like to have happen would be to finish faster than my PR of 3:37. If I can top that, then I think I should be pleased with myself, given that I've done absolutely no speed training this time around like I was hoping I would.

I do have under my belt three runs of about 20+ miles, and I have no injury concerns. Everything on my body feels just fine, and I went for a short run the other night and I have to admit, I feel really fresh. The taper is such a wonderful thing. It makes you feel like you lose all of the fitness between the time you have your last long run and the day of the race, but as it turns out, you feel renewed. That mud run last week was much harder than I expected it to be, but at least all of that soreness is gone now. I've even been able to get some decent amounts of rest the last few days, although that has been sprinkled with my early SLC days when I get kind of no sleep. I dunno. We'll see, I guess.

Like I said before, this time around is very different. When I finished Long Beach last year, I already had planned on trying another one this year, but this time I don't have similar aspirations. True, there are still some marathons I'd like to try out - New York, Arizona - but it's not the same kind of drive as I've had before. I think I need to do something different. That doesn't mean I won't be running, but I need an alteration in my approach or something. Again, we'll see what that means.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow though. Last year was my first marathon with someone I knew. This time I can think of four people off the top of my head that I know who are running St. George, so that's kind of fun. One of them, I'll be meeting up with tonight and we'll have our pre-game talk about everything. He's the same guy I ran Long Beach with last year. He's become my little protege, of sorts. We text about running all the time, and I kind of love him for it.

I won't be running with any music, as is my marathon custom, but this song will be playing in my head at various stages of the race. I wish I could just have an edited clip of Rocky quotes on an MP3 file:

Going in one more round when you don't think you can - that's what makes all the difference in your life.

Here goes nothin'.