Race weekend is creeping up!

I'm very excited to head down to Cincinnati this weekend for the Flying Pig Marathon.

It's shaping up to be a hectic weekend! Friday I'm taking a half day at work and getting Lizzie to Worthington, where Molly was kind enough to offer to dog sit. Then it's off to Fleet Feet to pick up my favorite flavors of Gu, to the Y to teach one more class then home to pack.

Saturday I'll be up bright and early to cheer on all the MITers and the Run DMCers at the Capital City Half Marathon. I'm really excited to see so many people come through, especially those who are racing for the first time! I'll probably end up bumming around Columbus for a few hours until it's time to meet Brandie D., Rebecca E. and Ryan G. to head down to Cincinnati.

We'll get to Cincinnati around 4 p.m., then we're headed straight to the expo! I'm so excited to do a little shopping and load up on swag :)

Then we're meeting some other Run DMCers for dinner at 7 p.m. at Arnold's Bar and Grill in downtown Cincy. I'm so excited about this place, it has a gluten free menu and lots of pasta!

Somehow, I'm supposed to get a good night's rest, then it's up early again Sunday for a 6:30 a.m. start time! Hopefully Mother Nature will be good to us.

I've had a lot of ups and downs in the past few weeks so I'm not sure how I'll be feeling. I'll either run the whole thing at a 12-minute pace, or do a 4:1 run:walk ratio. I'm hoping for the former. No matter what, I'll be getting my medal!!

Running school is IN!

I can't decide if I want to do the Cleveland Marathon or the Flying Pig, but right now I'm excited for either because MIT started today!!!!

OK not really. Tonight was just the informational meeting for Fleet Feet Sports Marathoner in Training program. But it was enough to get me pumped.

Sans the holidays I'll meet up with more than 500 other brave souls early Saturday mornings to train for our respective races. Yes it is the middle of winter. Yes I still live in Ohio.

We break up into pace groups, there's a coach for every 20 or so people. We take off from a school in Westerville and run through the parks system. We get access to doctors, physical trainers, nutritionists, etc... They give us a plan to follow for our respective race, and there is just a wealth of information and, more importantly, camaraderie.

At the meeting there was such diversity in the room... young, old, fat, thin, athletic, not athletic. All wanting to run a full or half marathon.

So... what to train for...??????