Ready as I will be

Thanks for the love everybody - I appreciate deeply the advice, insights, and encouragement. As you all probably know in your own experiences, it gets a brotha down the road to know he can share his realities through his computer screen and get the informed thoughts of his esteemed brother(sister)hood. So - thanks.

Yesterday, after a couple solid days of stretching and ice, I headed out for a "long" run of just 4.5 miles. I didn't really care how far I was going, though - 4, 6, 8...I just wanted to get into a rhythm and hold it, feel comfortable, and find my stride naturally and without pain. I stopped at 4.5 because there's no point this week going 5, and no point stretching to 6. So when I felt good at 4.5, I pulled up and called it good. It was the best run I've had in weeks. Ticked along effortlessly at 8:17/mile - which tells me my fitness is still there - and was mostly, though not entirely, pain free. Was the the confidence run I needed? I'm not sure, but it felt good to get the miles under me, and I'm encouraged. I'll remain strict about ice and stretching the rest of the week.

Okay! So, as of today race day looks like 58 degrees (so, likely quite cooler at the gun) with "few showers" - 30% chance or so. Humidity in the low 70%, maybe a bit breezy. Sounds just about perfect.

If you want to track me on race day, you can do so at http://www.mtcmarathon.org/ - my number is 3979 (richvans, you'd asked for my number - I hope to see you around mile 23!), and I'll try to have some of my peeps update my twitter feed (up there at the top of the blog) with general live progress updates - we'll see.

For those of you in Minneapolis, I think I'm wearing a red shirt, red hat, black shorts. I'm also (drumroll please...) rocking these:



(I thought a humongous picture would really tell the story of these things best, no?) I'm thinking - hoping - they'll help; and I want to thank my peeps for the advice and feedback they've had rocking the goofy socks. So yeah - I'm that guy. Don't make me wear my aero helmet out there, because I will dammit.

Other than that - just wanting to get through the week. Looking forward to spending time with friends and family this weekend, and getting my head absorbed in the game. I love race week, and I especially love big race weeks. These are the days to celebrate what it's all about, says I. Can't wait for Sunday.