Important Race Decisions

One of the most important decisions for any race is what to wear.  For me, the item of most importance is to wear lots of pink.  I find that the more pink I wear, the more fans I get to cheer for me.  Usually, they refer to me as Pinky or Blondie and the lady spectators especially seem to like my outfit.  I have a pink sports bra top, pink spybelt (for my 4 vanilla gus) and either a pink visor or pink, glittery headband - TBD.  I will be wearing new, Nike Dryfit shorts that are gray with pink trim.  Jordan gave me these for my birthday.

In addition, I will be wearing the Newton MV2 racing flats for this race.  I wore them for the Augusta half marathon, and they worked out great.  The only thing is that they are built for 10ks and half marathons.  I really wanted a lighter Newton to race in, since I wear them on my training runs all the time.  THe shoe guru that I purchased them from told me I should be okay based on my size to wear them for the full marathon.  I definitly feel faster in them!

If you are running Boston and are anything like me, you have been checking the weather every 7 minutes to see if there is a cold front moving into Boston Monday morning.  Right now, the temperature could get up to 88 degrees on Monday!  I personally love running in brisk weather, but am trying to be optimistic about this forecast.  Obviously, I will have to adjust my PR goals and focus on running a strong, smart race where I can place well in my age group and have the luxury of passing others the last part of the race.  I also will be aiming to NOT to visit any medics.

 Any race temperature over 60degrees negatively affects race performance.  I found this neat calculator online that calculates, based on the temperature, how your goal time will be affected.  I was surprised that for a goal time of 3:10 in 80 degree weather my time would only slow by 6 minutes.  I will be putting this theory to test.

Check out the calculator HERE

After doing my extensive research today, I realized I have two things going for me regarding running a race in the heat.

1) I have lived in Georgia for a whole two weeks and ran two speed workouts and one long run in over 80degree weather.  Today it was 72 when Jordan and I ran and I hardly broke a sweat - of course that was only 3 miles at 8:25 pace!
2) I am small, and female.  I read that taller, larger males have the hardest time in the heat - more body surface to heat up, I guess!

I will be spraying myself with sunscreen before the race and of course take care to stay hydrated - while avoiding over-hydrating - which can lead to death!  I will be wearing a sports bra so I can get a cool breeze on my belly and am thinking about wearing a visor, I still can't decide if it will help me by shading my face, or if it will add more heat to my body.

I will still be hoping that the weather changes, but am very excited to run Boston for the experience of it.  And I will certainly be pushing my hardest, even if it isn't reflected by a PR. There is always the jacket to look forward to!

2012 Boston Marathon Jacket

Sadly, we had to take our puppies to the kennel today since we are leaving early in the morning.  I am not worried about them, I just miss our little buddies!  Its so weird not having them follow us around.  Mister Bruno was very upset to go to the kennel, while Penny was so happy to meet new friends.

Poor, unsuspecting pups

Tonight we will be relaxing (which calls for me checking the weather every 15 minutes) and having day 2 of our homemade meatballs and sauce, one of the best things about tapering!!

Cooking balls of meat

Any thoughts on running marathons when it is HOT?  Visor or no visor?  Ohhh the important decisions I have.