Strip marathoning and I chose to do this

My brain is going about a million miles a minute right now. Too bad I can’t run that fast LOL. So, I’m hooking up with Amanda at Running with Spoons again for Thinking Out Loud Thursday.

1. As I expected, the weather here has started to warm up. We are looking at starting temps around 50, going up to 70. The big question, of course, is how fast will it go up that high? I’m hoping not until at least noon since the races start at 6am.

2. The beauty of the Mainly Marathons races is that the course is a loop that you do multiple times (14 for marathoners on the courses I’m doing.) This means I can take off layers as necessary and change things up if needed. As Beer Geek said to another spectator at one of the Riverboat races last year, “If she keeps tossing me items of clothes every time she runs past, she’ll be naked before she’s done.” Yep, strip marathoning. It’s the best kind of race. All three of the below pictures were from the same race…

3. Speaking of clothes, here’s my outfit for race 1. I reserve the right to make a last minute choice.

4. And here’s my outfit for race 2. I’m prepared for all temps LOL.

5. My life has been crazy lately. I ended up at the Urgent Care with Jones on Tuesday because of a wicked sore throat (not strep, thank goodness) and then he stayed home on Wednesday. Shoo fell hard at soccer on Tuesday, so Wednesday he made me stay at practice. Now I’ve got to cram the errands that were supposed to happen on Tuesday and Wednesday into an already packed Thursday. Otherwise, the gecko is going to be hungry while I’m gone…

6. Because of the heat, my A goal is to finish upright and smiling. That’s it.

7. OK, A+ would be one or both races being sub-5. B if I finish limping. C if I drop down to a half for the second one. D if I don’t run the second day. F if I injure myself in some way that messes up Ragnar. Obviously, I’m aiming for some version of A. Yes, I’ve spent way too much time thinking about this.

8. I totally have the taper crazies. I’m doubting if I can run a 5k, much less two marathons. I’m kind of a mental mess right now.

9. I keep reminding myself that I chose to do this and that it’s supposed to be fun. And I know it will be – I get to hang with Kim and a whole slew of people that I’ve run with at other Mainly Marathon series. Even if  I end up walking a lot, I’ll have lots of people to chat with.  I can do this. I will do this. And I will have fun doing it.

10. And this…

…will make it all worthwhile.

[Tweet “Training is over. Time to run the races I signed up for! #runchat #fitfluential”]

What are you thinking about these days? Do you have a race this weekend?