6 Days

What does one do with oneself when counting down the last 6 days, after months of preparation, to one of the biggest things he/she has ever done? I have to say I'm struggling with this one. Usually, when I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed or anxious I go for a nice long run, "exercise my demons", if you will. This being taper time though, I know that I shouldn't be out knocking off 8-9 mile runs all week. Another thing I often do to relieve stress is bake. During some of the more difficult times in my life I could have practically opened a bakery with all of the baked goods pouring out of the kitchen. There's something about methodically following a recipe, the gentle whir of the mixer, the occasional dough sampling... it's all very relaxing to me. But, with less than one week to go until the marathon, eating a batch of cookies in one sitting probably isn't the best way to prepare to run 26.2 miles (and let's be honest, baking without allowing yourself to eat your creations is a sick form of torture, and I'm just not interested in subjecting myself to that sort of thing.) Another tried and true method of stress relief: a nice trip down to the Warren Tavern for Cape Codders. Again though, staying out all night drinking with my buddies, while fun, is not the best mode of hydration for a marathon. So where does that leave me?

I can only sit around, twiddling my thumbs, watching episodes of the Bachelor for distraction for so long... sooner or later the marathon creeps back into my head and I start panicking: is my knee is hurting more than normal today? should I get a massage? which of the 85 pairs of shorts that I ordered are the best ones to wear? should I switch back to my old running shoes? do I have enough Gu? have I run enough? have I run too much? should I order more shorts? what if there's a monsoon on monday? will the lettering on my singlet be done in time? what if I don't see anyone I know on the course?...

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

So that's where the yelling came from yesterday, just needed to get it out. I felt much better after that and a quick little 4 mile run to test out one of my (many) pairs of new shorts and clear my thoughts. I know I'm going to look back on this and laugh at myself for acting like a crazy person, but until then I have 6 more days... I might have to bake some cookies.