Predictions

We're less than 2 months from D-day, 53 days to be exact, and I have a number of long runs under my fuel belt now so I thought it would be a good time to revisit the predictions I made several months ago about how this marathon training business was going to go. Back on May 14 when I wrote about committing to the Dopey Challenge, I listed several things I expected to happen during the course of training madness. Let's take a look and see how accurate I was back in the innocent days of 3 mile runs. You can re-visit that entry here.

Love Boat Carnage

Prediction #1: I will want to eat all the food.
True? Yes. Oh my God, yes.
Yesterday was a 17 mile day. The only things I did yesterday were eat, run, eat, shower, eat, nap and eat. I actually stopped on the way home from my run to get a doughnut to eat while I figured out what I was going to eat for lunch. My Goofy friend (as in she's doing the Goofy Challenge of a half marathon followed by a full marathon) Ashley met me for lunch minutes after I got out of the shower. Seriously. My hair was still wet when I arrived at the restaurant. We split a Love Boat - a literal boat full of sushi - which we demolished in short order. This was after we eat ate a bowl of miso soup and a small salad. I then went home to nap and woke up several hours later to the sound of my stomach gurgling demanding to be fed again. I answered the call and ate half a pizza. 

Jeffrey and Jane made this run fun!

Prediction #2: I will wonder why I thought this was a good idea.
True? Yep - this was my attitude most of last week.
I had a lackluster 16 mile run that included 2 bathroom stops and an emergency run to a drugstore to buy a granola bar. In the days after, my runs were colored by this sub-par performance. I did not want to get out of bed early. I did not want to go out in the pre-dawn morning when I could have been sleeping, and just about the last thing I wanted to do was run. One. More. Mile. I was simply over it. I had already put in hundreds of miles and dozens of early mornings and yet I had oh so many more to go. It got overwhelming. Luckily, I have friends who showed up to run with me and a Dopey mentor that talked me off the ledge. Things went better this week and I might just be starting to see the light at the end of this many miled tunnel.

The "What Died in Here?" pile

Prediction #3: I will be doing laundry like it’s my job. 
True? Abso-stinkin'-lutely (emphasis on stinkin')
Laundry piles have quickly taken over my house. I usually have 3 of them: 1) The 'regular' dirty laundry in the 'regular' hamper. This consists of my work clothes, pajamas, towels, etc. It's pretty harmless and can be done under regular conditions. 2) The clean-but-I'm-too-tired-to-fold-them-and-put-away clothes. More times than not, I pull clothes out of this pile to wear again and they never see the inside of a closet or drawer. 3) The "what died in there?" pile. These are also known as my running clothes. Fairly soon after I started training, I went out and bought a separate laundry hamper for these clothes and these clothes alone. I did this for 2 reasons - sometimes I need to wash running clothes before I have a full load of the 'regular' laundry, and they reek of a funk that can only be accomplished by running in them for 2-4 hours at a time. This laundry requires a special kind of detergent (seriously) and should be done wearing a hazmat suit. It should also be noted that this hamper lives in a separate room from where I sleep.

Prediction #4: It’s very possible I will lose body parts.
True? Not yet.
Every full marathon I've ever done (all 2 of them) has cost me at least one toenail. Typically I keep hold of the nails all the way through the race and lose them weeks later, but I can usually tell when I'm going to lose it way before it actually happens. And so it's no surprise that "Toenail Watch 2015/16" has already begun. They are all hanging on for now but I'm concerned about #2 on my left foot. It's a problem nail - it has a history of abandoning me. I've learned to not get too attached. Literally.

Prediction #5: People will call me crazy. 
True? You betcha.
I've lost count of the number of people that have called me crazy, rolled their eyes or shook their heads in disbelief about what I'm planning to do. Some people have called me inspirational but they're easily outnumbered by a 2-1 margin by the first group. That's ok though. If I wanted a truly conventional life, I'd have done a lot of other things differently too. Years from now (hopefully lots of years), I want to screech into my grave with my body all used up and saying "Man, that was a wild ride!" I think I'm well on my way.

With 4 1/2 out of 5 correct, looks like I pretty much nailed my predictions. Maybe I should head to Vegas.