I’m deep in the throes of race anxiety at the moment.

Monday: 5.2 mi, road, 132 bpm
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: 5.5 mi, trail (Hartley hodgepodge), 146 bpm
Thursday: rest
Friday: 7 mi, treadmill (tempo run), 145 bpm
Saturday: 9 mi, trail (SHT, Magney Snively trailhead to Becks Road & back), 147 bpm
Sunday: 4.8 mi, trail (Bagley, though I think the GPS is off/too high on mileage), 142 bpm
Total: 31.6 mi

I actually didn’t intend to cut down the mileage quite so far. I thought I’d do about 35 miles, but 3-4 of my runs last week were shorter than I’d intended. It doesn’t really matter. My run on Saturday was good, I was able to run under 20 min/mile over some fairly tough terrain, also including a stop to take a selfie on top of Ely’s Peak. Here is a huge photo of me.

The rest of the week was basically boring.

Like I said, I am extremely anxious about Saturday’s race. It doesn’t look like it will be too hot, so that is good. Now my 2 biggest concerns are 1. mud/trail conditions and 2. getting pulled off the course due to a storm. I guess I just need to be faster and finish before any potential thunderstorms develop. Hahahahahahahahaha. It rained a lot on Monday so the trail conditions and water crossings could be… interesting.

My biggest irrational concern is getting lost, which I’ve addressed. Everything else should be ok. I know I can finish. I know I’m probably going to perform better than I am expecting, but I am keeping my expectations low and manageable. I have another marathon 8 weeks after this one, so I can’t go buck wild.

There’s not much left for me to do, besides avoid injury, get adequate sleep, and complete a page-long, evolving to-do list. “3 more sleeps” until the race, as they say. Never mind that my resting heart rate is on the way up, my feet are sorta grossly calloused, and I am over-analyzing and second-guessing just about every decision I’ve made regarding this race. Especially signing up. WTF was I thinking?

It’ll be fun. Or a learning experience. Or both.