The Day Before The Marathon - Reprised

OK, just because I need to make sure I have the whole experience down for future reference, we're going back in time to the day before the race. :)
It's not as cool as the actual race, but it's part of the process. :) If you think this is long, just wait for the race report. (I know: we are, we are. :))

Kaitlyn cooperated with us so I got to sleep in a little bit. Which was good, since this was the second night in a row I'd had night sweats. After some consideration, I suspect they were stress related. :) Nothing quite like having to swap out the comforter in the middle of the night. Bleah.

Got up around 8. Val did up ham and cheese eggs and French toast. My mom had been staying with us for Thanksgiving and the marathon, so we just waited till 10ish when my dad showed up (staying with my mother in law just down the road) and then finally started to get on the road.

Gathered up a copy of my registration receipt in case I needed it, as well as the address for the expo hotel and expo map. I'm really glad Val is the driver in the family because I hate driving in Seattle. (Val would point out here that I really dislike driving anywhere. :)) Between streets at diagonals, random one ways and people, it makes my head hurt.

Finally got on the road and drove down to Seattle. We drove by work so we could see the route from there to the start (and the last .7 miles of the course as well) and then down the first bit of the route (en route to the expo hotel) so Dad could figure out where he could take some good pics. Noticed an unanticipated exit closure sign on the exit I'd normally take to work that was effective at 0700, so knew I'd need to get in a little earlier than originally anticipated, or we'd be driving all around to get in. Especially since the course runs right by the building.

The plan was for him to ride with me to work where we would hang out and meet up with B at work, walk up the the start, drop B and I off at the start and then move down to where 5th kinks left on Denny so he could take pictures of the start. Then he'd walk back down to work, displace, and join Val, Kaitlyn and my Mom at Genesee park near the mile 10 marker. Val and Kaitlyn would watch me at mile 10 and then bail out to keep Kaitlyn warm and go the the Aquarium, or the Pacific Science Center and then watch me at the finish. My Mom and Dad would hang out at the Park and see me at 16 (It was on the Seward Park out and back), then displace and see me at around mile 21, just after the Galer/Madison hill combo, and before the Interlaken hill slog.

Got to the Expo at the Westin, needed to pick up my bib and chip (obviously)(I ended up being bib number 583), and Dad wanted to see if we could find a higher visibility hat to make me more recognizable for picture taking. Apparently he didn't think my generic white running hat would be distinctive enough. The expo was well organized, had good signage and volunteers directing people, and was very crowded. In an ideal world they would have been in a slightly bigger space. Only really bad thing was that the charity organizations were segregated away from the vendors and in their own space and almost everyone I saw did the same thing I did. Walked in, realized what was in the room, saw no obvious freebies, and bailed.

Bib and packet pickup were out front in a nice and obvious ballroom, set up very neatly. You had to navigate to the back corners of the vendor area of the expo to get your goodie bag and 'free' shirt. The grandparents took Kaitlyn to the sign making/kid's entertainment area, and Val and I wandered through the vendors looking for hats, or anything else cool. I apologize to the LaraBar people for taking too many samples. I wasn't paying attention to your admonitions to only take 2 TOTAL bars... :) Oops. (As a note: not a bad bar, but I think the CLIF nectar organics are better, for a date based bar at least.) Got a couple of cowbells from Saturn, picked up a new tube of nuun in a better flavor than what I have left at the house. Had no luck at all looking for hats. Found some but they were really odd. Even the brims were foam. Very floppy, and felt really odd to wear, so didn't get one. Almost bought a Stick, but decided we needed to save some money and I'll just stick with the foam roller for now. The goodie bag had some generic stuff, but most importantly included a REALLY nice map of the course, made from satellite imagery, with the best detailed elevation map of the course I've seem. (Which was a little scary. The one on the official site is a little 'cleaned up' and, well...) Probably going to frame the map and bring it in to work, since my Dad seems to be offended by the whole wall with nothing on it. :)

Kaitlyn loved the sky bridge between the parking garage and the hotel. It was over a street, and she could stand on the shelf on one side, see a car coming, and have me swing her as fast as I could over to the other side so she could see the car drive 'reappear' and then swing her back to repeat. And hey, we saw a YELLOW BUS while we did it. Not sure how to top that. :)

Got back on the road and headed to the first spot for my spectators. We had spent some time Friday night looking at maps, and now just needed to work out the route plans and specifics of where people would be, and how to get in and out with all the road closures. After some driving around the first spot ended up being Genesee Park just before mile 10 on the way out, and right at mile 16 on the way back. We drove down Lake Washington Blvd , on the course, until we hit Galer and Madison. Galer looked ugly, but I realized I had run this specific hill or something similar (possibly steeper) when I went out with B fro those couple of hill workouts. Madison was a surprise. Galer is steep but short. The Madison part of this wasn't all that steep, but it was long. Then we were able to drive to the base of the Interlaken weave that I had run with B, and decided to head home.

Decided en route to the house that we needed lunch and Dad REALLY wanted to get me a higher visibility hat! :) We stopped at Taco Time for lunch then walked over to the Brooks Outlet to see if they had anything. I was hoping them might have the NightLife hat that goes with the NightLife jacket and gloves I already have. Unfortunately they did not. Probably because they don't have any problem selling the things. :) Stopped by RiteAid and got film (Yes, Kaitlyn, they used to use cartridges that had to be processed before you could see your pictures.) for my dad, and snagged a couple of neon poster boards in case people wanted to make signs.

Dropped the ladies off at the house so Kaitlyn could take a nap, and Dad and I zipped over to Run26 for that danged new hat (which they did have. The new model has a flasher attached to the adjustment strap so it's even safer. :)). Almost forgot the GU I needed, but my dad caught me at the checkout. The guy who checked me out coaches as well as runs and he suggested that I just go ahead and walk up Galer (the first really steep hill that starts the Seattle Marathon 'hills of death' tm) :)

Dad blasphemed and asked about wearing the race shirt during the race. :) I'm not superstitious, but that's just a jinx waiting to happen. :)

Dad had committed to dinner with my in-laws for the night so he bailed out around 5. I started a load of laundry with some clothes in it that I wanted for after the race, and then started laying things out on the kitchen counters to make sure I wouldn't forget anything. Clothes, bib and chip, shoes, phone, ziploc bag for phone, GUs, Body Glide, Band Aids, clothes and shoes for after, good for after in case there wasn't any, directions, nuun, Advil, handheld water bottle, extra pins for bib, and finally breakfast for race morning.

Val made me a pair of turkey sandwiches for me for dinner and made me sit down to eat them instead of standing and pacing. :) I surfed while I ate, starting to get maps together for everyone so that all the route planning we had done earlier would work.

All sorts of nervous energy especially after we got back from Run26. Val told me later that the only time she's seen me this out of character was when I proposed to her. Finally settled down a little around 8:30. Went up to bed at 9:00 and read blogs and running forums and surfed till 10. Turned off the lights and just laid there, trying not to think too much about the race and assorted and sundry administrative details about it and was still awake at 11 when Val came to bed but went to sleep shortly after.