Tell me to drink some water today

It's interesting (to me) to compare my attitudes to my first two marathons to my second two.


My first two marathons were Baltimore and Shamrock, and the entire week I was on a mission to hydrate, eat healthy foods, watch what kind of shoes I wore, ice my knees every day, sleep at least 8 hours a night, etc, etc.


I ran the Baltimore Marathon again two weeks ago, and now I'm running the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, and my plan is - eh, just do whatever.


I developed a close relationship with cake vodka the week before my recent experience at the Baltimore Marathon, and stayed up late carb - loading two nights before (the night you are supposed to focus on sleep). Although, I'm not sure if staying up late carb - loading is a good thing or a bad thing. That could really go either way.

This week, I'm not doing anything particularly destructive (unless you hear of any open bar events, immediately email me in that case), but I'm just not really taking that whole "I'm running a marathon this weekend" thing seriously. I've been staying up way too late because it's just been one of those super busy stressful I-can't-sleep kind of weeks. 


I made up for it last night, however. After dinner (I would tell you what I ate but I posted it once before and got totally mocked for how disgusting everyone thought it was) Eric and I decided to catch up on Biggest Loser, since we are at least 3 episodes behind. We didn't even make it to the first challenge before I dozed off. When I came to, I told Eric to pause it and we'd just have to catch up later because I was going to bed. When he paused it, I saw the time. 7:58. WOW. I couldn't even make it until 8pm. 


So, actually, staying up late and then falling asleep on the couch super early = a balanced week of sleep, right?


I have taken the taper seriously, although that's partially because I don't really see how I could have fit in 8 mile runs anyway. Ok, I could have, but "tapering" provides a convenient excuse not to.


Tuesday night Lily and I went to Bikram. I felt great at first, and thought I was finally getting good at hot yoga, but then I immediately went downhill and wanted to cry, except I was already sweating out every single tiny droplet of moisture in my body. Surprisingly enough, this is not a particularly good way to hydrate. 


For some reason, I can't seem to bounce back, and both of my runs since have felt dehydrated. Bikram was Tuesday night and lasted until 8:30 am, so I wasn't surprised when my 6am run Wednesday morning felt terrible. I only did 3 miles though, so not enough to complain about.

Unrelated, I just also found this when I google-imaged "carb load"

This morning, Mike came over and ran five rainy miles with me. I was annoyed with myself for having a side stitch (obviously didn't hydrate enough yesterday) and feeling exhausted when we were running a nearly 10 minute mile pace. I always turn on the news while I'm stretching, so seeing that the humidity was 95% made me feel much better.


 As a teacher, I am faced with a choice: Do I want to hydrate and then cry because I have to pee so bad and I still have two more hours until I get a break, or do I not want to hydrate and then want to cry in the marathon? There's photographers and spectators at the marathon, so I guess I'll go with crying today.


Since I already have a time I love from Baltimore, in my mind, Marine Corps is a chance to train for the 50 miler while checking out some monuments. Win Win. I do realize I could come to very much regret this attitude come Sunday.

Do you take races less seriously the more you do (not just marathons, 5Ks, anything), or do you still get nervous and prepare properly?