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December 03, 2005
The Most Expensive Jacket & T-Shirt I Now Own
T minus 7 days and 10 hours, and counting.
So now it's official. The funds are in and I do in fact have my minimum.
The team met one last time for a 90-minute workout and Final Prep. It was a nice easy run with Kit, Victoria, and Christine, and we were chatting it up the whole way, up to the Diamond Head lighthouse and back. After having done 18 and 20 milers, doing nine miles seems like a piece of cake.
At about 7:30 after everyone got back, we went through our final prep meeting (which, probably not coincidentally, was the same time as San Diego's meeting; we gave a big "Aloha" shout-out to them). In our final prep packets were instructions that were obviously geared more to those who were coming to Honolulu from elsewhere. Only a few of us were staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village; most of us would be coming from home. But most of the information was relevant and familiar...packet pickup at the Convention Center, and the pasta and victory parties at the Hilton.
Then afterward we met with Coach Jon who went over the basics of taper week...lots of rest, lots of carbs over the last few days, salt to prevent cramping, some tips to avoid the pre-race jitters.
In my final prep packet were two pieces of clothing, which I can honestly say are the two most expensive pieces of clothing I own...the purple jersey I'll be wearing on the 11th, and the purple and green Team San Diego/Hawaii jacket. In a sense, both of those items cost me $1,600. To me now, they are more precious than gold.
Now comes the challenge of trying to keep calm. In this last week, I feel like I've got an intravenous drip of caffeine in me, except without the caffeine. And part of the excitement I feel is that a sub-4 hour marathon is so close that I can taste it. I have to tell myself, I can do that, as long as I keep calm and do things right this week.
The countdown is on.
Posted by Keith at December 3, 2005 07:02 PM
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