Marathon in a week? *gulp*

Six days from now, I will hopefully be alive after finishing the Surf City USA marathon. After finishing two marathons last November, my motivation to keep training fell off a cliff. Now that I am finally back to a normal routine with the holidays being over, I've been much better about following my running routine. With that said, that only left me with about 3-4 weeks to actually get some decent mileage in.

I successfully ran a 15 miler three weeks ago, braved the ice for a 20 miler two weeks ago, and slogged through a puzzlingly-difficult 12 miler this past weekend. In other news, I have also been fairly good about incorporating some sort of weight training at least twice a week. I never have been one to consistently do weights, but I am eager to keep up the weights routine. I'm aiming to be stronger and less squishy and I know weights will help!

I was actually feeling confident about the race, knowing I would take it easy on myself for my time goal, until this past weekend's 12 miler. I ran it with a friend and while the pace just two months ago would have been fairly easy, I felt like I was ready for a break only 6 miles in. Um, that's not a good sign when there is a race to be run soon and said race is 26.2 miles long.

How will I deal with the impending doom of this race?! By lowering my expectations and planning out my running costume. The last three marathons, I've run in costume and who am I to stop that tradition?! I have some ideas, but I'd love to hear from anyone of some costume suggestions that are still easy to run in and good in 70 degree weather.

Here's to hoping I survive!