Bugs pointed out something very important. You guys are the most supportive bunch I know! And I should trust that you won't disown me for evil plans. After telling myself for weeks that I knew the Monkey wasn't smart and after weeks of watching people's training go to pot. I decided I couldn't take the regret I was feeling. LOTS and LOTS of regret. So after a long talk with DH earlier this week I decided I should go to the Monkey and walk/run it anyway. SOO I will be leaving friday afternoon to drive 800 miles - BY MYSELF - and arriving sometime saturday, hanging out with RA folks all saturday night. Running Sunday, then driving all 800 miles home either sun/mon or just monday. I know you (Erika especially and Murphy leastly) are cringing knowing that i am not ready. But I would regret missing this experience - i know it's gonna be there this year, but the people might not be and what if I have a baby or am very pregnant or injured or who knows what else. So please be the supportive group I know you are. I KNOW I'm not prepared at all. I KNOW I will hurt the next day... if you guys have any suggestions for how to best survive it I would appriciated. I didn't want to not tell you, but I didn't want to get yelled at either... but I'm a big brave dog... So the thing I am MOST scared about is the fact that I'll be alone - without DH. This is the first time in 3 years I've left him (he's gone away on business, but i've never gone anywhere) AND I've never been alone in the car that long and I'm nervous i can't drive that far!! ok so that's my evil plan...

Shan, I wish I was there to drive you. One of your training partners can't come with you? Is there any RAers you could meet-up with along the way, save you some gas?

Shan, I had a feeling it was something like that. Hopefully you've got a GPS (helps with predicting places to stop and that sort of thing) and some good tunes/podcasts loaded up for the trip. You'll be fine for the trip. Are you meeting up with some of the women from the Swamp who are going there to run it? If rational thought intrudes and you decide to maybe run the first half only, you can always volunteer during the second half. I'd also personally appreciate any humiliating videos so it may be worthwhile to buy one of those little video cameras. Pictures can only tell so much of the story. If you do decide to do the whole thing, you should be deliberately walking the hills from the start, almost treating it like an ultra (which it really is). Think about the walk up, jog down approach. I half thought about going there myself just to volunteer but since I'm going to be up helping a buddy at the JFK 50, it wouldn't work out. Keep us posted.

one other suggestion, shan- Cell phone... I drove 10-11 hours by myself- with my children- down to Georgia and I talked with friends on my phone almost the whole time. It really helped a lot. I really wish I could run the Monkey, so I envy you- just try to have fun with it. I can't imagine this place ever "yelling" at someone- especially you. and it sounds like dave's plan for you is a good one. I have only heard about the hills, so I don't know anything more. I do think that if you walk a little early on and try to stick with some kind of interval like 10:1, that the end should be better for you. Let us know how it goes! And Cash, I started a user group here for personal trainers and since you teach Spin, I feel like this would work for you as well. There are others there that are group fitness instructors. In fact, I'm thinking about changing the name to include both- feel free to check it out.

For long drives, I do better with podcasts. This American Life is a full hour long. So is Car Talk. Makes the time go by.

GO SHAN!!!! Im not worried about you running the race. You'll get through it--it WILL hurt--You WILL feel awesome and feel like you want to die at the same time. More worried about the logistics of the drive. And you are not as undertrained as you are letting on. Yuve run every frikin day for over 40 days. That all counts. A bit of advice. Plan to walk/run from the start at whatever pace feels easy. From what I understand the monkey is a very very hard course. Get a hotel for Sunday. Dont even think about driving. You hurt--you will be tired. Try to stay on your feet after the race. Walk around as much as you can bear. Sitting in a car for hundreds of miles IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING the marathon is not wise. Is a flight an option? Ocassionally there are really cheap flights..that may not cost you much more than driving.

Shan, When driving back just stop every 50 miles or so and stretch legs. As far as streak, you will run 1 miles very VERY slowly post marathon. So what's the weather report for the monkey?

After this, you might want to focus on starting your next streak

oh i was thinking 1 milers at the 17mm pace might help me recover faster! Have i mentioned I LOVE YOU GUYS!!! I donno why i was soo nervous to tell you! I think I was concerned telling you would make me more nervous LOL but it hasn't YOU ROCK!!!! MTA: partly cloudy 53 -- that's shorts weather baby!!