Ready to Run!

So, Matt and I head to New York City on Friday (11/1) to run in the ING Marathon on Sunday (11/3). I am excited and nervous! But, mostly excited - both about visiting NYC and becoming a marathoner :)

Training/Preparation
We have been training since July 1. In these last 4 months, we have put 463 miles on our legs; this averages out to about 26 miles a week. However, our highest mileage week included a 22-mile run with a total of 37 miles run that week. All of our long runs were on Saturdays, which usually took up pretty much our entire Saturday, especially when you consider that after the long run we were too tired to really do anything besides sit around and rest :) Though it seems like our lives have revolved around marathon training these last few months, we feel trained and prepared to conquer those 26.2 miles!

We have also been reading up on the proper way to carb load and eat smart in the 72 hours or so before our race. Basically, eat a lot of carbs (for energy) and sodium (for muscle contraction and to make your body retain water for hydration purposes.) Considering that the 72 hours before the race we will mostly be living in a hotel in NYC and therefore eating out, excess carbs and sodium should be no problem :)

Goals
We both have the overall goal of finishing under 4 hours. If I am real honest with myself, I would say that I really hope to come in closer to 3 hrs 50 min. I think Matt is wanting to come in around 3 hrs 30-45 min. So, here's hoping our training comes through and we make our goals!

Excited to be back in NYC!
Aside from being excited (and nervous) about participating in and finishing the marathon, we are super excited about being back in NYC for a weekend. We are looking forward to seeing friends, visiting some of our favorite hang-outs and trying some new, fun places.

Wish us luck!