Now that I have that song stuck in your head….enjoy the rest of my post!

I know my posting has been light the last few weeks. I am nearing the end of my PhD, and most of my time and energy has been focused on working. In the meant time, I have been tapering for the Outer Banks Marathon, which is now only 3 days away!!

If you read the November issue of Runner’s World, you have probably seen a little taste of this marathon in this article. It made me so excited to see this race featured!

The course is a mostly flat point to point race. Just before the halfway point, there are a few miles on a packed dirt trail, but otherwise the remainder is on the roads. On my training runs, I tried to run a few miles on the packed dirt off to the side of the path I run on as some practice. The only major incline is a large bridge at mile 22-23. It is 82 feet tall, and a 4% incline over 650 feet– yikes! But at least it shouldn’t last too long, and the final few miles will be downhill and flat into the finish.

Right now I’m feeling both nervous and excited. I always get a little nervous before a race, especially after putting so much time and energy into training. Like I mentioned in my last post, even though my training didn’t quite go exactly as I planned, I’m just going to go out there and give it my all (by the way, thanks for all your positive energy!). I am so much stronger than I was before last year’s marathon, and I think that should translate to a better race. Horray for progress!

I have never been to the OBX, so I am pretty excited to hang out at the beach — I think we will be trying to catch some blue crabs one day. So excited!

I don’t think I’ll get another chance to post before race day, so see you on the flip side!!

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