Big Sur 2009.. Finally around the corner

With today's run, I will have completed my training for Big Sur 2009 (April 26th), my first spring marathon and my first marathon in about 2 years. My last one was at San Francisco in 2007 about 30 days after Ayush was born, with a finish time of 5:15 -- So anything faster than that will make me happy.

Things that went well:

1. All my runs were in the morning. Though I'm not a morning person, I think morning runs are way better than noon or evening ones. For one, there are fewer reasons (fewer! But not zero) to ditch the run.

2. All my runs were on the road. Though I'm not sure if this really is an advantage.

3. Three runs a week program is really working for me. The key is to make all 3 runs hard ones. My first 19 mile run on this program was a resounding success. Rowing as cross training is also fabulous.

4. Spring = Pollen. Asthma abound, kept an inhaler ready. Nipped the asthma in the bud.

5. Having Suresh as my pacer for my 20 mile runs. For a 3:30 marathoner, running 20 miles at 9:30 min/mile pace is a breeze and that enthusiasm rubs off on you.

6. Got my weekly mileage high pretty early on. This really helped. Although my initial goal was to touch 40 miles a week, I came close at 36 miles a week.

Things that are causing me concern:

1. I haven't run that many hills. Plus my longest hill run was only 12 miles. Big Sur has rolling hills near mile 20.

2. My left knee is behaving like a jerk (knee jerk.. get it?).

On race day, my plan is simple. I will hang out with the 4:30 pace group as long as is possible and if anything unexpected pops up, I will just wing it from there. Bottom line, I really enjoyed this training schedule and I'm really really looking forward to running along the jagged edge of the western world.