Marathon countdown!! 3 days!

Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted to my blog.
Let's see, what's been going on.

I've been training for the Napa Valley Marathon which is this Sunday, March 5th (my birthday!) I'm a little nervous about it. I had a great long run of over 20 miles two weeks ago. Last Saturday I had another great short long run of 10 miles (only a marathoner would think 10 miles is a short distance!) This past week hasn't been so great. The weather has turned cold and rainy. My right heel has been giving me pain and the weather forecast for Sunday is 50's, rainy and windy! (A headwind of all things!) I haven't been able to do a single maintenance run this week! It looks like the weather should hold for this evening, so I'll be putting in an easy 6 miles.

One may ask why I'm letting a little rain and cold from preventing from running my weekday runs...well, I've been fighting a cold for the past week. Nothing too serious, but it's a stuffy nose sort of sore throat type of thing. Not really cold, but if I don't watch it, it could get worse. At least this is the excuse I have been telling myself this week! :)

Goals? Hmm, at the moment I have a goal of finishing before the cut-off time of 5 1/2 hours. But realistically I think I could run in 4 hours. That is because I haven't had a very long recovery period from the last marathon. Plus the weather is going to play a major factor. And if my heel is still feeling that way it is, that could be the deciding factor of how fast I'll be able to go.

Goal: 4 hours
Something I could be happy with: 4:20

Something different for this marathon, I actually will have someone there to give me a big hug when I cross the finish line...Johan! That will be the biggest motivator!! :)