Look what was waiting in the mail for me today.

This doesn’t mean I’m in. I paid hard cash for the shirt above and beyond my entry fee. Still gotta wait for the lottery results in late March. And from what I understand, many sign up, few are chosen. But the shirt is inspiring anyway. I’m in training for the NYC Marathon. I may be in training for the next three years. But I’m in training.

Yesterday: 3.0 miles
Week: 7.0 miles
February: 7.0 miles
2010: 85.07 miles

Race day approaches.

Feeling pretty excited. Some jitters I guess. I have NO doubts about my ability to finish, and I’m pretty sure I’ll finish in a respectable time, especially for a first race. I set my personal goal at sub 27 minutes, and at this point I feel that’s pretty conservative. I guess the jitters are just due to the fact that I really don’t know what to expect when I get there, during the race, and after. Where do I go, where do I line up, will people be friendly or competitive, what if I get lost on the way or take a wrong turn, what if there was some computer glitch and I’m not really registered, etc., etc. Most are completely ridiculous, I know, but this is what goes through my brain. It’s simply the fear of the unknown. I’m sure I’ll be fine once I arrive.

Left thigh has still been pretty tight and strange. I did a 3 mile easy run yesterday. It’s fine during and right after a run, but tightens up during the day. So last night I stopped by Dick’s Sporting Goods and picked up a foam roller. Figured out how to use it and rolled out my quads pretty well. A bit painful, but not as much as I’ve heard reports about. After that though, the leg felt pretty good. And I definitely noticed a difference this morning. This makes me happy. It hasn’t really been hurting, but has been tight and stiff. My guess is that I probably pulled it a bit a few weeks back on a speed run, and aggravated it more with other speed runs. And while it might be pretty much healed, it left a bit of a knot that the foam roller is good at working out. Not sure how scientifically accurate that is but hey, if it feels better, I’m all for that.

Anyway, I’m planning on doing a short couple of miles tomorrow some time, just so I’m not taking off two days in a row, and then giving it hell on Sunday morning!