1 Day till Marathon - Getting Ready!

Got up and went for a little 2 mile jog around downtown Charlottetown. It was a beautiful calm morning in PEI, unlike the blizzard wind conditions last night. I ran down Queen St. to Peaks Quay and back. Just enough to stretch my muscles and take in the morning fresh air. Here is my view as I ran along the water this morning. How could you not want to take up this sport! Get up really early even before the sun has risen and be the first to take in the still water views!

I went back to the hotel and got the rest of the lazy heads out of bed and then we went over to the Kids Spud Run, where all the kids got a chance to participate in a 1 km fun run around the track. Sophie and Nana did the race. It was Sophie's first race and she ran the whole way by herself at 3 years old, 1km in 7mins 59 secs.

 The clock says 8.14 but we had to a retake action shot because people were in the way and we couldn't see Sophie in the picture but she did complete it in under 8 mins! Super Star!

Then we headed over the race kit pick up and trade show, logged out chip, picked up a few goodies like a new shirt, some gus and a hat! Off to eat some pasta and then back to the hotel room for a rest.
I spent the afternoon visiting some old friends here on the island and now I'm sitting in the hotel room getting all my stuff ready for tomorrow morning. WOW I had no idea the amount of stuff you need to remember to do before a run. This list is unbelievable when you think about it. All I"m doing tomorrow is running...but there is a science to it.
To start off with, I decided to have a nice hot bath to soak my muscles for tomorrow. Aaah that felt good!
Called for a wake up call at 5am, I asked for two cups of hot water to be left outside my door at 5am too, I'm sure the hotel staff think I'm nuts but we will need to have our hot cereal as soon as we get up so we have time to digest and go to washroom before the race. A friend of mine who has run 93 marathons told me you don't want your body using it's energy to digest your food while you are running, you want that to be finished with before you start running so that you can benefit from the carbs in your breakfast. Makes sense, glad she told me that, I'll get up for 5 am to do that!
Now to get all my stuff ready, some of the stuff I can have ready and waiting like my bib number attached, chip timer attached, watch, head band, socks, sneakers, ipod etc. but for clothes! What will I wear?
If you look at the weather network work it looks like we will be swimming to the finish line!

8am	10°C		Cloudy with showers
9am	10°C		Light rain
10am	10°C		Light rain	Sunshine Destinations
11am	10°C		Light rain	Attractions Forecast
12pm	10°C		Light rain

Positives are that it's not cold, negatives...I really haven't run in the rain so I'm not sure what to expect! I guess that day way back in August when it was poring rain and thundering, I should of gone outside and ran just so I could experience running in the rain. But I'm sure to find out tomorrow what it's all about. Much like the old saying 'I"m singing in the rain, I'm singing in the rain...what a wonderful feeling to be running in the rain!!'
I hope to keep my fans posted on my progress on Facebook, so feel free to send me a message. I'll probably see it!!
P.S. THANKS - so many thank you to send out to my family, friends, fans and supporters, I really couldn't of done this if it wasn't for a group effort from all of you supporting me, encouraging me, praising me and just loving me!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart, I truly appreciate each and every one of you.

P.S.S. I'll let you know tomorrow afternoon if and when I start training for my next one!!! :)

2 Days till Marathon - On our way to the Island

Even though it hasn't stopped raining all morning we aren't discouraged about race day. We are hopeful that race day will bring out a little sunshine and mild winds. Who knows, as the weather man has changed the forecast about 6 times in the last week. I'm preparing for all types of weather. I have everything from my bikini to a winter coat pack for race day and we won't know till 5am Sunday morning how we should dress.
We are all packed up, loaded into the truck and ready to head for the Island. It's pouring rain with 60 km winds, we can hardly keep straight on the road, the wind is so strong. I'm expecting to see ducks on the side of the road soon!! Still a few more days till race day so hopefully the rain and high winds will pass soon.
We will stop on the way to the Island to enjoy a big spaghetti dinner as it's carbo loading time and we need to fuel our body for the run.
Oh, I thought I'd tell you too that Dad and I may be featured in the Guardian, PEIs local newspaper tomorrow. Here is a copy of the article that was submitted.

Founding organizer of the PEI Marathon visits the Island to run her first marathon with her 67 year old father
Charlottetown, PEI, October 15, 2010 — Laura Booker one of the founding organizers of the PEI Marathon visits the Island this weekend to run her first marathon. Accompanying her is her running coach/father Phil Booker (age 67), former President of Run NB.
Laura grew up running with her father and participated in the Run NB road races series. ‘It’s hard not to take up the sport of running when your dad is running a 5/10km race or a marathon almost every weekend.’ says Laura.
While living in Stratford, PE, Laura was asked to be a member of the founding organizing committee that brought the PEI Marathon to life in 2005. Responsible for the water stations, Laura can remember getting up at 3 am to drive out to the start line of the marathon to set up the 14 water stations that would service the many runners that morning. ‘I will definitely be thanking all the volunteers along the race on Sunday, as I know it takes a lot of dedication and teamwork to put on an event such as a marathon.’ says Laura.
Earlier this year Laura’s husband Dan Amyot was diagnosed with a case of life threating melanoma skin cancer, which has since been removed. However, it got Laura thinking about how life is short and we have to take advantage of all the wonderful opportunities life has for us. Laura has always wanted to run a marathon with her dad and decided that she had better hurry up and get training or her 67 year old father Phil would not be in a position to so for much longer.
‘I jumped off the couch this past April, called my father and asked if he would like to run a marathon and coach me from a far. Of course he said yes, and that it would be perfect timing to run the Prince Edward Island Marathon in the middle of October.’ says Laura.
For the last six months Laura has been training for her first marathon in Ottawa, ON and blogging about her experiences each day on her blog A Daughter’s Running Journal http://adaughtersrunningjournal.blogspot.com/. On this blog you will find the trials and tribulations Laura experienced while training for her first marathon and the advice her father gave her along the way. Her coach/father Phil Booker has been running for over 20 years and has run 26 marathons including Boston 4 times. He has been coaching and guiding Laura throughout the process and answering any questions she had during her training. ‘I’m so proud of my daughter Laura for the time and dedication she has put into getting ready for this race and I’m happy to be accompanying her on her first marathon.’ says Phil.
Laura is excited to be back in PEI this weekend to take part in the race festivities and hopes to see many people out cheering on all the runners. Grateful for the support and encouragement she received from her family and friends over the last few months, Laura looks forward to crossing the finish line after taking in 26.2 miles of beautiful PEI scenery. One exciting thing about running a marathon is that no matter the age, training and/or conditioning one never knows what the outcome will be.

3 Days till Marathon - 6 miles with Dad

So Dad and I decided we would go out and do a marathon simulation this morning. Pretend that we were running the marathon and figure out how we would pace ourselves at the beginning, middle and end of the marathon. All went well and we ran an easy 10 km in 58 mins. We were able to test out our start pace of 10.5 min/mile and get into the groove or our 9 min/mile race pace. We played around with our gus and blocks for replenishing our electrolytes, figure out what socks we will wear, if we will need a hat, gloves and/or coat!
A few goals we have for ourselves are these:
1. Make sure we finish together, hand in hand as we cross the finish line.
2. Run the marathon in less than 4 hours and 15 mins so Dad can qualify for Boston one last time
3. Run the marathon in under 4 hours, it would be so cool to be able to break 4 hours
4. Run the marathon in under 3:40, and qualify for Boston myself - fat chance but it's on the list...
Lots of stuff to consider when getting ready for a marathon. So many things that I had to make a check list so I won't forget anything.
Running your first marathon is like having your first baby, everyone wants to share their experiences, everyone has an opinion and everyone try to tell you what to do. All I can say, is that I'm expecting a unique experience that no one can prepare for as much as I have so... here it goes!! :) We will find out soon enough!

7 Days till Marathon - Pumped and ready to rock the Island!

Since it's Thanksgiving this weekend I am reminded to give thanks for achieving the running success and minimal injury to date. I have 7 days left till the PEI marathon and I'm packing my bag now and getting ready to head to New Brunswick to spend the week with my parents before the run. Dad and I will have a chance to run a few times before the race to get use to each other and I'll be able to have a good rest and prepare well in advance for the big day.
Today's run went very smooth, it was a bit windy and cool but overall a great fall run. Beautiful fall colors surrounded me as I made my way down the newly paved path. Oh yah, did I forget to tell you, the city paved the running path along the river last week and now it's smooth as a baby's bum! More bikers on the trail now but less opportunity to twist an ankle.
Today's Stats: 6 miles, 9.75 km, in 55:08 mins, avg pace 5:39 /km, avg speed 10.6 km/h burned 881 cal
Today's Weather:

SAT Oct. 09, 2010 11:00am

Temp 7

Wind

NW 20 Humidity

57

Listened To: my default Power of Now, can't get enough to Tolle, he put me in a stat of mind or no mind that make running feel like I'm floating on clouds :)

P.S. If anyone has some pre marathon tips I should take into consideration....I'd love to hear from you.

20 Days till Maraton - still able to run!

Today I had to force myself to pull it together and run. I only had a little 3 miler to do but after yesterday I thought I would never run again...it was all good. I did the 5 km slow but steady. Decided to run on the treadmill in case I couldn't make it back to the house! lol Everything went fine. I ran for 30 mins, got over the 'I'll never run again...comments running in my head' and now it back to a steady 3 weeks of training. Scared my dad a bit. He was worried I didn't run the long run on Sunday but we finally connected this morning and I reassured him that come hell or high water I am running this marathon!!! There is no way, I'm going to all this effort to not run it! I have so many great supporters such as my daughter Sophie, who does yoga stretches with me every morning before heading out the door, Daniel who encourages me to do my run when I really really don't want to and to all my readers who send me little notes of encouragements here and there. I will not let you down!! PEI Marathon here I come...:)

21 Days till Marathon - Dead

I think I've died and gone to runners h___! I can't move, I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't think! Thank goodness for the loving hugs from Sophie all day today or I think I would be under a rug somewhere. Wow, I have never felt like this before. I must be dehydrated or hungry! So hungry that I can't bring myself to eat. I don't think I was actually able to do anything useful till 4pm today. I feel my strength slowly coming back. Wow, I need to read up on what my body wants after a marathon as I definitely neglected to give it. I'll go to bed early tonight and look forward to a good steady run tomorrow. Only 3 weeks left till D day!! Excited. 

22 Days till Marathon - Long Run check!

I did it!! I did it!! Felt pretty good too. I ran 36km today. Left the house around 8:30am it was 10 degrees out. It just finished raining so I was happy I didn't have to many puddle to run through. There is not much I say about the run other than I just kept putting one foot in front of the other and I eventually made it back home. At the end of the run I felt like I could keep running with little extra effort so I'm confident I will do well on race day.
The real lesson came when I fainted in the shower after my run. I had a unique experience in that, I decided to go take my bath and shower after my run before eating anything. BIG MISTAKE! I laid in the bath for about 10mins and then decided to finish off with a shower. I stood up and just had time to catch myself on the window handle before collapsing back to the bottom of the tub. It took me another 15mins to gather the energy to get back up again. I took a really cold shower to allow me to function and then finally crawled out of the bathtub. What did I learn...eat, eat, eat after and even during the race. Or even better yet, eat more carbs a few days out from my run. Underestimated the amount of carbs I would need. It was a scary experience but I'm glad to have learned it on my training run. At least I didn't throw up like a few people I know.
Today's Stats: 22 miles, 34.94 km in 3:46:24, avg pace 6:29 /km, avg speed 9.3 km/h burned 3106 cal, avg heart rate 160 bpm, max heart rate 221 bpm
Weather: partly sunny, 12 degrees nice morning for a run
Listened To: Power of Now - I was in the moment of NOW the whole time!