5 days to Marathon: What have I gotten myself into, Race preparation, and Spectator's guide

Well, the marathon is on Sunday. My god that went fast. Knock on wood, the weather is supposed to be good - low 60s (forecast is saying 59 today), no rain. Runners dress for temperatures about 20 degrees warmer than it is, so an ideal running temperature is mid-50s. And of course no rain. If any of you paid attention to last year's Twin Cities Marathon (I surely did not), it was cold and rainy. Our current TNT head running coach actually ended up dropping out because she became hypothermic. So do your anti-rain dance - no rain please!

Our race will start at 8am. I am planning on running a 5 hour 30 min (running with the Clif Bar pace group, I think), which would make my pace about 12:35 on average, and possibly as slow as 13:10 per mile. The lowest pace a participant can go without getting picked up by the bus will be 13:44. I should be fine if my IT band doesn't act up. We'll see.

Now's the time: download and print your spectator's guide!

I am anxious - not only because it's my first marathon, but also I've had a nagging IT band injury that's prevented me from running my short workouts during the week (hello pool jogging, the most ridiculous-looking exercise you will ever do.) I've tried to keep up with the longer weekend runs, but have had to cut the last three short. Been to a chiropracter once on Friday, once yesterday, and will probably go once or twice again this week. Did I mention that while he's excellent and helped me a great deal, the office is not in network? Yep. Thank goodness for my Health Care Flexible Spending Account.

So my time these days is spent on the following priorities, at work and at home:

* Taking two to three naproxen a day to keep down swelling (race day, this will become acetaminophen, as I understand this is a better choice for the kidneys during the marathon);
* Icing my knee and left quad (I feel like such a jock talking about "icing my quad") as often as I can during the day - my chiro says apart from the anti-inflammatory properties of icing, this also acts as a "pump," telling fluids to leave when it's cold, and pumping them back when the ice pack is removed, accelerating healing);
* Drinking at least 64 oz of water a day;
* "Grazing" carbs starting on Wednesday;
* Getting up around the time I'll get up on Sunday all this week to get my system, ahem, going at the proper time. (Runners are a very, very earnest and upfront bunch.)
* Getting to the chiropracter at least one more time, and possibly two, before race day.

To add to that, I have the following regimen to squeeze in twice a day:
* Rolling my IT band with a roller (big foam roll) - also an awkward exercise
* Massaging the bejeezus out of my quads, calf muscles and IT band with "the stick"
* After 5 minutes of a warmup activity, stretching my IT band.

Off to my stretching routine. More soon!