She Runs by the Seashore

There’s less than a week left until the Rehoboth Beach Seashore Marathon.

I’m only planning to run two more times before race day on Saturday, Dec. 6 — two three-milers, most likely on Monday and Wednesday. I ran about 8.6 miles for my last longer-length run of the training period, on Saturday in Hampstead, Maryland.

That run was nice. I ran alone and without music, but it didn’t seem to drag on. I went pretty slowly, too. I checked my phone and found that it was only 37 degrees, but it felt much warmer; the sun was shining brightly.

I’m hoping for sun during the marathon to help ward off any feelings of cold.

During my training, I ran a 24-miler for my 24th birthday, as well as two 20-milers and other long-distance runs. Aside from making sure I followed a makeshift plan for the long runs, I didn’t plan out too much else. I altered the long run schedule from a Runner’s World plan I based my runs off of last year to work up to doing the 24-miler and around a few races I had scheduled.

I mostly just made sure I kept up a good amount of running, and I feel like I did. Since the beginning of September, I’ve run 342.25 miles. That includes 121.7 miles in November.

I feel confident going into the race. I don’t have a distinct time goal, although I put on the online registration (nearly a year ago now) that I estimated I might be able to run the course in 4 hours and 10 minutes. Last year, the course was different, but it took me 4:17:45. Mostly, I’d just like to finish and beat my time from last year, although it would be nice to hit that 4:10 mark.

Right now, the 10-day forecast according to Weather.com is a high of 51 with a 40 percent chance of rain. (It does say “showers in the morning,” although I’m still hoping for sun.) I’m still not sure what I’m going to wear, given the forecast — and we’re still six days out. I am planning to drive to and from Rehoboth Beach to pick up my race packet (I’m about an hour away) on Friday, but I’ll be driving up early Saturday morning for the race, and then staying over that evening.

I will be sure to keep you posted on how I do in the marathon. I probably won’t get to write the blog post until at least Sunday, so check the She Runs by the Seashore Facebook page and follow me on Twitter @VanessaJunkin for faster updates. I can’t wait!