I have a Shout Out Louds song on my iPod that has a chorus that reads/sings, “So I heard it’s no good to run, but it feels so much better now that it’s done.”

For me, Runner’s World really came through with their running playlists in a recent special issue. The tunes are generally unrelentingly heavy-hitting and suited for a long, gruelling run.

Last Wednesday, I went for a solitary run in the rain. I give major props to people who run alone in the rain. For my general attitude, running in a downpour with a group for three hours is easy compared to having to run with only myself to be accountable to. Last Wednesday, I started to get an idea of how I would amuse myself for the 4+ hours I’ll be on the road for the marathon. I think I will be okay.

For starters, I can amuse myself dreaming of how to graph all the other running data I have collected over the years. For now, I have finally graphed my mileage during three consecutive summers of marathon training seasons. I am unable to conclude if this year is better than last year.¹ Only the race will tell, right?? Now, how will I graph all the other data from the off-seasons?

I am looking forward to having music during the marathon.² Grammar geek that I am, I analyze the lyrics of the songs, if I can pick them out. Like the all-too-common error found in Mariah Carey’s “Touch My Body” where she sings, “But this is private, between you and I“ instead of “between you and me“. Or, the ambiguity in Nickelback’s “If Everyone Cared”: “We watch the sky, confusing stars for satellites.” To me, it suggests that they think stars they see are satellites. More reasonably, wouldn’t you confuse satellites to be stars?

What else will pre-occupy me? I heard there will be cheerleaders on the race route. That is markedly different from Canadian races. I’m scheming already about my next big run³, “off-season” activities, traveling (back home), and all the other stuff on my monkey mind.

¹ I realize that MANY factors were glossed over in the name of this graph. The “ideal” mileage was determined by from a novice marathoner’s training schedule. While I would like to conclude that this year is better than last year, the figure completely ignores the types of runs that I completed, long distance runs versus speedwork versus fast clip (tempo) runs. Still, I ran 800km in ’06 and 640km this year, just for marathon training.
² Having music on race day is a contentious topic even amongst us average runners. I will simply say I didn’t have music during the last two marathons and will explore the mental boost during this MP3-friendly race I have entered.
³ Over coffee last week, I talked to this fellow in the run club who reminded me of my quest to run in every province in Canada. It turns out that we both have 6 of 10 and missing the exact same provinces: Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, and Newfoundland. For me, I think I can easily knock off Manitoba and Quebec since they are close to Ontario and the Maritimes, respectively. In particular, I am intrigued by the gorgeous Quebec City marathon that has a new-to-me distance of 30K and a wild Staircase Challenge: a crazy 12K route throughout the city that goes up (and down?) 2,000 stairs! As if by perfection, the race is the same weekend as the Vancouver marathon so I will have plenty of training company!

On this day..

• Vancouver Magazine's 25 Things to Taste in Vancouver 2012 - 2012
• NPY's PotD*: Day Thirty-Two - 2011
• The Cupcake Cake - 2006