The Hay Is In The Barn

Done. Finished. Ready.

Today, I finished my last run before the marathon. It was an easy 3 miles but a great reminder of how even a routine run can bring new experiences.

First of all, I ran after work today and the temperature was in the 70's. That meant today was the first time I've run shirtless in November. I can't believe how warm it was. It's supposed to be 20 degrees cooler tomorrow but we'll be in New York by then.

I also had a new experience with a train in town. I ran down to Old Town Eureka and there was a train parked on the tracks as I ran down the hill on Central. The gates were down and the lights were flashing, but the train wasn't moving so I ran across the tracks and further down Central.

The train must have started moving right after I passed because I turned around a block later and it was crawling through the intersection. Apparently, it stopped so they could switch the tracks and it had to move through at a pedestrian pace as it pulled its seemingly endless line of cars from one set of tracks to the other.

I was trapped on the wrong side of the tracks and had no easy way to get around the train. So an unexpected train delay practically doubled the amount of time I was gone for my run. I also slowed the pace a lot for the last mile because I had cooled down waiting for the train.

With today's run in the books, I'm officially finished running until the race. As they say... "The hay is in the barn." I'm as ready for the marathon as I'm going to be. The work is done and there's nothing left but to do it.

Next stop... New York City.

Wednesday
Goal For The Day: Easy Run.
Distance: 3.04 Miles.
Time: 21:38. 7:07 Avg. (6:40, 6:43, 7:53, 0:20*).
Route: Old Town Eureka Loop.
Conditions:  72 degrees. 5:00pm.

Notes: Lots of packing to do tonight. Mom and Rick come up tonight and we fly out in the morning. I tend to feel a little... detatched during the week before the race. It's like I work so hard to stay calm that I over-do it. I'm sure the excitement of it all will hit me when we leave for New York. For now, I'm oddly calm.

Daily Miles: 3.04 Miles.
Blog Totals:
  Run - 547.42 Miles.
  Bike - 144.45 Miles.
  Swim - 13,450+ meters.