4 days til Broad St

There's no turning back now; well I guess I could still bail.  But with 4+ months of training, $100+ sneakers,  a $200+ gps watch and a few friends counting on me for moral support it would be super lame to bow out now.  I completed my final training run before the race with Joe last night.  That's right, since January I have run 167 miles in preparation for Sunday's race.  I obviously don't have any pictures since this is my first time running the 10 mile course through the center of Philadelphia so I googled it.  I am now a little afraid of being trampled.

In case you're interested, here are gps screen shots from the last few runs I've completed.

3 miles with Amanda

4 miles with Amanda

5 miles with Angela

3 miles with Joe

I've been trying to figure out the best way to handle these final 4 days before the race. I've talked with a few seasoned distance runners and everyone says to taper off and take it easy so that's the plan.  Although it's not easy for me because I handle my weight loss with a calories in/calories out system.  It makes eating what I want difficult if I don't work out.  My plan is to take kick boxing at the gym tonight then take Friday & Saturday off from "real" workouts.  Friday will be tough because I have dinner plans with my friend Lorie, maybe I can convince her to eat at Applebee's so that I can get something on the under 550 calorie menu.  I'm hoping to get plenty of steps walking around the run's expo on Saturday plus it's Bayfest so I'm hoping to convince some friends to walk down there with me from my house (about 2.5 miles).  I'm pretty excited to eat some pasta for dinner on Saturday night too, I very rarely indulge in a large portion of pasta with delicious sauce!  We'll need to leave the house around 6am to get up to Philly with ample time for parking and figuring out where I need to be.  I'm hoping to be in constant contact with Amanda & Angela so we'll be able to find each other; keep your fingers crossed for me.  The race starts at 8am but I've heard the back corrals (where I am) will wait upwards of a 1/2 hour to actually make it across the start line.  I'm hoping to complete the 10 miles in under 2 hours which shouldn't be too hard to accomplish since my last 9 mile run took 1 hour 42 minutes.  I've heard there's quite the party at the ship yard afterward so I don't think I'll make it back down to south Jersey before mid afternoon.  Angela & I were tossing around the idea of going to The Library for dinner to have $15.95 prime rib that evening and Joe said "it's my day" so I guess that's the plan for now.  I took Monday off from work on the advice of a distance running friend and I'm pretty happy to have a random week day to do what I want.  It won't be all fun & games though, I need to take my gala dress & my bridesmaid dress in for alterations and I'm thinking about getting a manicure and heading to the tanning salon.  Wow, sounds like a pretty busy weekend...wish me luck!