well, well, we meet again.

Helloooo taper. We meet again.

It's been 3 weeks since the sucky Baltimore Marathon (sucky on my part, not theirs).

While it may seem crazy to some, I'm incredibly thankful that I have a second chance to redeem myself of that sucky marathon so soon. (In case you are new around these parts, you can read the story of my miserable Baltimore marathon here. )

6 days until Beach 2 Battleship. I feel GOOD. I feel ready. I haven't really mentioned training over the past few weeks, nor kept up with my Daily Mile profile, but it's been going well. We learn something from EVERY experience, whether good or bad. I learned that while I had a slow marathon, I am stronger than I thought. I had let these walk breaks mess with me mentally for so long. Then in Baltimore , before my GI system rebelled, I ran 15 GOOD miles, never stopped once. I know there are a lot of Galloway supporters in the house, and I know it works for some people. It's a downward spiral for me. But in Baltimore, I ran. sub 8:30-9:30 miles, one right after the other. Never felt tired (after that first 3 miles of straight up hill, that wasn't a very nice trick race directors). Having a fantastic (more than) first half of the race and having it all go down the crapper (literally, eww) was devastating.

But I took what I learned, and I've used it. Since then, I have run my training runs without stopping. If nothing else, Baltimore cured me of that mental block. Which is good timing, because at B2B, there will be a thin field (as it's a tri, not everyone will be on the run course at the same time), obviously no pace leaders, and absolutely without a doubt no ipods (although I don't race with them anyway, they certainly help on my training runs). Now more than ever, I need to be strong, mentally.

And so here we are, me , my legs, and my GI tract, about to dance with 26.2 again. My ONLY goal is to finish with a smile on my face. A P.R. would simply be the icing on the cake.

Taper running: A ten miler tomorrow (wasn't able to get it in today), 3-5 Tuesday, Thursday, and maybe an easy mile or two in Wilmington on Friday, just to stretch the legs out.

Stress: No scheduled exams, papers, or midterms this week. And instead of taking said stressful midterm , hopping in the car, and driving 8 hours to Baltimore, arriving at 10:00 pm the night before the marathon...I will be skipping class Friday (don't worry, it's OK, I've saved up all of my skip days for such an occasion), driving 1.5 hours to Wilmington, and RELAXING the entire day before the race. Now,let's just hope my toddler's don't up their crazy factor any higher than the current level any time this week.

Nutrition before: After today (I'm a mom, my kid has Halloween candy, it's my duty to eat some of it, you know, to spare his teeth and all) it's 100% clean eating. No junk, no caffeine (I've cut back to almost none anyway, aren't you proud?). With special focus on the 48 hours pre race. I'm attacking all aspects and possible triggers for the stomach issues I had last time . Don't worry, I'm not being "too hard" on myself, I will most certainly hit up a Taco Bell post race ;)

Nutrition day of: Here is where it gets a bit tricky. Since this is a 140.6 relay, I won't start my marathon until sometime in the afternoon. And that exact time is unknown. I need to make sure to hydrate (but not over hydrate) and eat (but not too much) throughout the day.

Nutrition during: cutting back on GU's to every 6 miles, instead of every 45 minutes. I think I was over-gu-ing. In addition, I think I over-hydrated last time. I've read a LOT of people lately talking about listening to your thirst and drinking accordingly, as opposed to making a conscious effort to stay hydrated. Since it's November, and not the middle of the summer, I think now might be a good time to give this a try.

Clothing: The current forecast for Nov 7th in Wilmington is High of 73, low of 53, 30% chance of isolated thunderstorms. As long as it's not rainy and 53, I will certainly survive. One thing I completely forgot about, that I was reminded of by a couple of people, is that I will have a special needs bag at mile 13. I can put some warm clothes in there, just in case!

There you have it friends. I'm ready. READY. Now I wish this week would just hurry up!!!