The Countdown is On – 1 week to Hawaii

The Honolulu Marathon has been updating their Facebook page daily with the ongoing countdown: 2 weeks…10 days…and now just one week!! How did this happen? This showed up on my Twitter feed this morning:

When I signed for for my #42for42 race back in January, I was wide-eyed and innocent in the ways of the full marathon. It was a spur of the moment decision, combined with an earlybird special that made it cheap enough to allow me to bail if things didn’t go my way. Plus, I’ve never been to Hawaii before!

I thought about doing a post today on lessons learned – but with only one marathon under my belt (and a previous post of a similar ilk), that didn’t seem very honest. Rather, I’ll just talk about my thoughts – and, most assuredly, my fears about this race!

The Climate
I’ve done most of my training in mild weather, with the occasional dabble in miserable and/or below zero. Due to my post-BMO injury, I did very little training during the warmer summer months. And even if I had – the warm, dry summers in Vancouver hardly compare. As such, I’m completely unprepared for a tropical run. Heat? Humidity? No idea how to deal with those, or how my body will respond.

The Time
5:00am start. That means I’ll need to be up and ready before 4:00am. What? Anyone who knows me knows I’m not a morning person. Never have been. My two saving graces are: we got a hotel just 15 minutes’ walk from the Start, so less anxiety about getting there; and due to the time difference (Vancouver is 2 hours ahead of Hawaii), it won’t feel as early. Right?

The Training
I kept to a pretty consistent training schedule before my first marathon in the spring. This time around, life has thrown a few wrenches into the works. In particular, work has been manic since Labour Day, limiting my ability to train at lunchtime like I did in the spring. I’ve been taking a college course as well, which forced me to prioritize study over sport a few times. And, due to an unexpected trip to Ontario for family matters, I might have peaked earlier than intended and started tapering before I ought to have. So while I’m pretty confident I can do the distance, how well I can do it is in question.

The Diet
I have the best intentions for cutting out certain things, for eating more of other things. But with the holiday season in full swing, and my chip addiction somewhat unabated, I fear I haven’t been adhering to the ideal marathon training diet. OK, I did have a kale salad last night, but then we went for dim sum this morning. I really lack the discipline of a true athlete. Thankfully, the race is at the beginning of our holidays, so if I can just hold off on the indulgences for another week…

The Expectations
This race has been on the calendar for nearly a year. A lot of people know I’m running. It’s a hashtag goal! So although I’m trying to be realistic in what I hope to achieve (given the factors above), I have set certain expectations for myself. I won’t reveal them until I either meet them or fail to do so, and tell you all about it in my race report. So stay tuned!

Am I overthinking things? Probably. I tend to do that. In fact, this pretty much sums up my general state of being:

I’ve signed up for several half marathons in 2015. No matter what happens in Hawaii, I’m going to keep running, and blogging about it! Whether or not I do another full marathon depends somewhat on how this race goes, how my body responds, and how the new year plays out. Regardless, I hope that by this time next week I will have completed my second full marathon, and made #42for42 a reality!

See you in Hawaii!