Made a day of it in Asbury Park today, choosing to get there early, do a little ride and a little run, then getting some coaching work done before the NJ Marathon expo opens at 3PM.
On the bike, I decided to ride through Deal into Long Branch, just to see what those last few miles of the marathon look like without the double vision associated with the later miles of a marathon. It's a tough, lonely road, especially at miles 22-24. It's a place where one has to stay strong as they weaken.
Got my work done at a local lunch stop before finally making my way to the expo at the Convention Hall. After visiting some of the friends who are in the Pace Team for this race, I decided to return back home for the night.
This is the night I tell everyone it's important to get their 8 hours of sleep in, because tomorrow night will be tough to sleep with the race the next day.
Tomorrow I become scarce. I do a short run and swim in the morning, then I hole up and lay low for the rest of the day while I concentrate on the race.
I'm going to be a bit conservative here, hanging with the 3:25 group instead of the 3:20 group. I'm hoping that at some point, I can take off ahead of that group and finish 3-4 minutes ahead of them.
I'm very much in shape, but not exactly trained for the marathon. Right now the Ironman in Ireland is consuming my training. In that race, I wish to maintain a pace of under 9 minutes per mile to get under 4 hours in the marathon portion of that race. It's not exactly the 7:40 pace I need to do in this marathon, so I'll stay conservative. There is still a good hint in my training that I can pull it off on Sunday though.
Only time will tell.
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