More Marathon Stuff

Only 2 days away now and I am itching to run this thing. This is the first time I have trained for a race and didnt feel like I could use a few more weeks of training. I don't know if that will mean I will run it any faster, but I anticipate less pain during and after the race.

The race has sold out too, which is exciting. It shows that there is a bigger running community in Fresno and the surrounding areas than people may think. There will be 3,000 runners which is pretty small but they plan on expanding that to 10,000 by 2010. To put that into perspective when I ran the LA marathon, there were 30,000 runners and 1,000,000 spectators. I have only run big races so I am interested to see how a smaller race compares. I will probably miss the massive amounts of spectators in past races (they really help!) but I also wont have to weave through slower runners for the first 3 miles so that will be nice.

Tomorrow is the Expo and packet pick up day. I am volunteering there for a few hours, handing out packets to registered runners. Anyone can go to the expo, they set up food, beverage, clothing and other various booths that are running specific. Typically I just pick up my packet, grab a few free samples and leave but I am really interested in hearing the keynote speaker, Katherine Switzer. She snuck into the Boston Marathon when women werent allowed to run in 1967. When the race director found out and tried to physically remove her boyfriend body checked him and she finished the race unscathed. It baffles me that only 40 years ago, people didnt think women could run marathons and now more women run marathons than men.

I need to add up the total money I have fundraised for Girls on The Run, but I am over $1,000 so that makes me happy. I feel good that thanks to my generous friends and family, I will be able to give money to an organization that I really respect. Not a day goes by that young girl isnt subjected to unrealistic images of what they should look like so it is an uphill battle but I truly believe running and physical fitness cant help overcome that. Thank you again for everyone who donated.


Oh, there is also another map of street closures on the marathon website of you want to check that out.