Three Things Thursday: OC Comin' At Me

1. Days Away Now: My sixth marathon is just a few days away. I'm alternating between excitement, anguish and disbelief. In some ways it does not feel like I'm already running another marathon. I suppose that's because all but one of my other 26.2 runs had quite a bit of buildup. Five months separated nos. 1 and 2, while seven months came in between 2 and 3. No. 4 came up quickly, nine weeks after its predecessor, and there was a full 11 months leading up to No. 5. And now - BAM! - seven weeks is what I've got in between marathons. Nothing I can do now to prepare physically except keep myself fresh and get myself properly carb-loaded. Mentally though I have to come in with the right attitude and mentality. I'm running this one for the medal and to prove to myself that I can do it so I think that may take some of the pressure off... well not really but if I tell myself that enough, perhaps it will.

2. Store: Have you visited my friend Willoughby's online store? Check it out here. She has some great and unique running attire for sale and if you use the code RunnerLuis you will get 10 percent off the entire order. Go local and support a small business instead of heading out to Sport Chalet or Sports Authority. Trust me, quality stuff.

3. Summer's Almost Here: Pretty soon, my summer will have arrived. The girls get out of school on May 24. After this week, they have two full weeks of school remaining, and then four days and that's all she wrote for the 2011-12 school year. I'm prepared for that but then again I'm not. I like my alone time and I will have none of it coming up, which is fine.. except for running. They can't exactly run an eight-miler with me. They have their bikes and they will be pacing me plenty but still, squeezing in runs will be a challenge. But I'm looking forward to not having to do the morning routine and just being lazy and getting away with it. Not every day of course but the whole get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, do hair, brush teeth, get lunch, prepare backpack, let's go thing is mind-numbing at this point. Routine, but it numbs the mind. So I'm trying to enjoy my last couple of weeks of relative solitude before the flood gates open. I'll definitely be getting in some nice long midweek runs before then. I don't care that I'll have just done a marathon, I need that time on the road before all hell breaks loose.