Yeah. It's nearly here. After training for months the day I've been waiting for is almost here. Although I've been training, I have to admit to some mild nerves. I'm sure it'll be fine.
Last week I went to Philly to run the end of the course. When I walked out of the hotel there was a man dressed in running clothes, stretching and looking at his Garmin. I asked if he was running the marathon and he said yes. Turns out he's from New York (upper east side), too and since he was in Philly on business he decided to run the end of the course. We ran together and were well matched. He was really great to run with. My Garmin wasn't working and neither was my Nike+, but his worked and he said we were at about 9:45 pace. We chatted and shared race day strategy. He told me his mantra is "Don't be an idiot". I love that and you can bet I'm going to use it out there on Sunday morning.
What makes this even more special is the crew of friends and family who are coming to Philadelphia to support me. Clay, of course, will be there. He always comes out for the big races and I love him for it. Also Clay's mom Sonia, Clay's aunt Andrea and maybe Clay's sister
Sheena. Dorla and Kevin will be there as will three good friends from work who are also marathoners, though none have run this year. Kim's run 8 marathons and is taking time off due to injury. Abbey and Deb have both run the NYC Marathon once. Abbey says they're coming because for her it's "passing the torch". I'd better stop writing about this now because I am getting a little teary eyed. It's just so friggin nice of them.
I sort of know a couple of people running this one. Good luck, Ken from the Upper East Side, my running partner from last weekend. Good luck to Jian my fellow Powered By Dim Sum team member whom I've never met. Good luck Guy from the Road Runners who missed the NY Marathon lottery and signed up for Philly in anger like me. Let's go kick some ass!