It Was The Night Before The LA Marathon...
I know, I should be asleep but... I'm SO excited! In a little less than 10 hours I'll be crossing the starting line of the Los Angeles Marathon! WHOO HOO!
I'm WAY over the freak out stage. I feel "together" mentally, I got my knee taped up, I tricked out my nails (love them!) and I've been busy hydrating with electrolytes.
This morning I did a one mile "fun run" with my awesome running club, the LA Leggers. Let me tell you, that mile was over SO quickly. Now all I have to do is run one mile 26 times and I'm done!
An inspirational speaker, Kyle Garlett, gave the Leggers a post-run pep-talk, but it wasn't the usual "rah-rah" sort of thing. Garlett is a four-time cancer survivor and heart transplant recipient - and he's also a triathlete! He's around my age and after hearing him tell his story and describe how he's now training for an Ironman race, I felt like, wow, I have to get out there run, and enjoy myself no matter what. There's no guarantee I'll get another day to race, so I might as well enjoy this one to the hilt!
Yes, I'm wearing a LOT of red tomorrow. It's my favorite color, but I'm also being sponsored by the Cherry Marketing Institute and I'm in FULL support of their Powered By Red campaign to educate physically active people about the health benefits of cherries. -essentially, they have these things called anthrocyanins and research shows they reduce pain, post-race inflammation, and muscle aches.
I'm ALL for more natural means of managing aches and pains - especially since I've had a few of my own in the past couple of weeks. I've been drinking tart cherry juice - it's VERY tart so I mix it with sparkling water, and I've been eating dried cherries at breakfast and dinner. I really like them. I even bought cherry jelly from Trader Joe's.
I'm also wearing my AMAZINGLY cute sparkle skirt courtesy of Run Team Sparkle, and on my hat, I' wearing the Depeche Mode pin made by the lovely Darkzoo/Mandy Needham.
The forecast predicts a high of 80 degrees, so I'll be sipping water and electrolyte drinks throughout the race. Plus, I figure I'll just douse myself with water if I get too hot - another reason to wear a red shirt. Last year I wore white and, um, after it got wet from me dumping water on myself, it was... "interesting".
I'm also wondering if I'll see any of the celebrity runners like Shia LaBeouf, Gordon Ramsay and Adrian from No Doubt on the course. Audrina Patridge from The Hills is also running but I just can't make myself call her a celebrity. Isn't that mean of me?
ANYWAY, I'm going to go take a l'il nap! If you're curious about what happens after I wake up, I'll be posting updates on my Twitter feed throughout the race. Wish me luck as I embark on my third marathon!
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