San Fran Marathon

46 days away.....Take out the District Convention weekend and the 2 taper weekends and we have found ourselves w/3 weekends of training left. We are going into the hardest marathon we have done, with the least amount of training. That's one way to make it interesting. This whole training period could be a "what not to do" article for Runners World. We did not take into account the Circuit Assembly, District Convention, and See Jane knocking out 3 weekends of long runs. We are now left with the delima of how to get up to 24 miles in 3 runs. We have done 18 milers for the past 2 long runs. Do we go 20, 22, 24 ....back to back weekends, then head into the 26 drained? Or do we do 20, 18, 20....or hold at 18 and hit it hard 3 weekends in a row??A normal training schedule for us would be a long run weekend followed by a 15 miler weekend, then up it again, then 15 miler, then hit our final 24 miler, and taper. So to go from 18 miles to 24 would take 6 weeks. We have 3.
One thing for sure I can work on from here on out is mind set. This is not a PR course, unless this is your first full marathon, then, bonus! Automatic PR for you : ) I am not going into it in PR shape. Would I love to finally break 4:40? Yep.Do I know it is possible, having just ran a 2:03 half...more than possible? Yep. Do I have 2 other marathons this year to attempt that at? Yep. This is a fun, entertaining, sightseeing, grueling, painful date day with the hubby. This is the funnest way to get free food, drinks, a shirt and a medal. This is a fun run, a way to spend a morning with the hubby earning Crab wonton wrappers and a huge piece of cheesecake at my favorite restaurant to blow a few thousand calories at.
Finishing a marathon is always a game of mental strength, the game will just have to start a few weeks earlier this go round. Will my mind let me finish happy that I am in shape enough to finish at all, and that I had a fun experience with my hubby.....or will it get the best of me and I finish bummed about my time? 3 long runs, an assembly, and 2 taper weeks to go before we will find out!