It’s race week! Yes, the New York City Marathon IS still on.  At least that’s what they keep saying! They are not quite sure how everyone is getting to the starting line in Staten Island but I guess they’ll figure that one out later..  My thoughts and prayers have been with those up in the northeast.  I have family in Pennsylvania and Connecticut who were really affected by the storms (lost power and had some flooding).

In the meantime, I’ve been gearing up as best I can.  The weather has been perfect in central Arkansas and I’ve enjoyed some beautiful runs the past two days.  I’m thinking positive and telling myself I can do this!

Determining my marathon race pace:

Oh boy! This is always a bit of a gamble to me.  The trick is going out hard enough so that I push myself to run the fastest marathon I can.  I also can’t go out too fast that I die at mile 20.  How do I pick my pace?  Having run two other marathons already this year I know what I have been able to successfully run.  In January in Houston I averaged a 7:36 pace.  In March in Little Rock I averaged a 7:28 pace.  According to McMillan’s Pace Calculator I should be able to pace between 7-7:06 for a marathon based on my recent half marathon and 5K time.  That sounds a little CRAZY to me when I consider that is faster than my half marathon race pace last year at this time.  Ultimately, I would love to break 3:10 which means running under a 7:15 pace.  So I guess I will be trying to hit somewhere in between 7-7:15, depending on how I’m feeling.  Of course, I’d love to be on the lower end of those times but 26.2 miles is a long way to run and I’ll just have to see what is going on Sunday morning…

Around the house:
I generally consider my family to be pretty healthy.  But there is something about race week.  At least 3 times this year I have had a child throw up the night before or early morning of a race.  This week- as if I am not paranoid enough- my sweet husband came down with something.  He threw up (a few times) last night and has been quarantined to our bedroom.  I have done my best to keep the kids away from him and I’m hopeful that none of us get what he has.  He is feeling a little better today and has managed to keep his food down (although he has only had toast).  I guess we’ll see how this plays out tomorrow.  If any of the kids get the stomach bug it is only a matter of time before everyone has it.  Stay healthy! Stay healthy!

As far as meals go for the week…  I was going to plan out the menu but what’s the point.  It’s no secret.  Mama’s gotta carb load.

Halloween:
Oh yeah.  Then there’s that small matter of trick-or-treating…

“You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog…”

A Witch, Elvis, Crocodile & Pirate Princess

It’s been an interesting week and it’s only Tuesday.  I’ll keep you posted on race week!