THAT'LL BE IT THEN

Weight: 76 kilos
Time spent running since 15 November: 63 hours 50 minutes
Distance run since 15 November: 588.2 kilometers
Time left: 2 days

I'm done training. Nothing left but being prudent with food and drink stuffs, trying to sleep well, relax, stretch a bit. I don't feel well prepared, but maybe that comes with a first marathon. And I should stop comparing myself with people who brag on their blogs about rourinely running 160 kilometers weekly. Even if it's true, at least I still have a life.

My train leaves at 6:44, so I'll have to get up real early for the two-hours-plus ride to Rotterdam. Once there, I'll have to pick up my numbers and other stuff. Then get changed, and then... Wait, dribble a bit, wait, find my Pacing Team, wait some more, get nervous, try not to get too nervous, and just generally wait impatiently for the thing to start.

The start is at 11am. They predict real warm wheather (compared to recent weeks), seriously over 20 degrees Celsius, and I'm not trained for that. I'll drink as much as I can and protect my skull with a pirate hanky. But still: assuming I take between 4 and 5 hours for the marathon, the hardest part will come at the hottest time of a hot day. Not looking forward to that...

(Note to myself: bring sunblock!)

My strategy is simple: try to stay with the Pacing Team as long as possible. If I manage to stick with them for the first 30 kilometers, I'll have enough time left to finish at my own pace: 1 hour 35 minutes for the last 12 kilometers.

That does not take into account the 195 meters that lie between the 42k point and finish. But then, if I get there this last bit will be heaven. It'll hurt, like all of it beyond the halfway point. But finishing must be pure bliss.

And then I get on a train back, try to make it home, collapse but with a good and well-deserved Leffe Brune. Followed by two days of extreme pain in my legs and back, slowly morphing into stiffness.

That's how I imagine it to be. If I finish.

Alright then, bring it on!