....and saw Holly's post that she doesn't really pay much attention to the course before-hand.  It got me wondering --what does everyone else do?

 

Me, I've been known to do "flyover" of a course via the satellite images available on the web the night before the race.  This is after staring at the race map at least 10-20 times before race weekend. 

 

So do you have a "usual" way of preparing for a course before race day?

For big races (NY, Boston, Disney) DH and I will go over the course map and the spectators guide if there is one so he can figure out where he'll want to be to try to see me. But after as many of these that "we've" done together... he's starting to just go back to bed, then meet me somewhere near the finish. At Carlsbad we figured out a couple places where he could take my long sleeved shirt, meet me with water, etc, but nothing really worked out. He got great pictures of Dove and Karl, though!

 

(ETA... I dunno Tammy, I'm thinking that leash on Mariposai might be a really good idea!)

I like to drive the course (if it isn't too far).  I need to know about the hills.  I like looking at the overhead maps too, especially if I don't have a chance to visit the course in person ahead of time. 

 

I also wanted to mention that my parents live about 1/3 mile off the Seattle RnR course. 

 maybe my attempt at humor was missed because I wasn't serious.  

 

 

 Tammy, Tammy, I knew you were just joking around....I was just musing on that thought in a general way...

If we have time, we like to drive the course, to get a feel for the hills mostly.  But I think we've only been able to do that a couple of times.

!

 eash on me so I can show you all how much fun it is to run a marathon in the slower pace......

 {sorry long post, . . . but it`s only seven sentences}

 

note to posie - so sorry posie-san but,having experienced how you stood around pretending to tie your shoes at one of the pit stops but realling waiting for me in the belly mary, and how you virtually walked the first miles of the `07 celebratory SM with me, . . . and how you were walking again with your first-time mary friend around Seward Park some ten miles later, . . . and how you went flying by me `n arf a few miles after that, . . . and how you just churned out 9minute miles at the end of a last-minute ultra,  you may not use the word slow about you any more, . . . or get the same fine you got at the belly turnaround. .

 

For those of us who really are slow and can therefore pretty much do 26.2 miles whenever we want to, not knowing what`s coming up around the corner for the next 26.2 miles is part of the fun.  Thus, the best memories of various marathons over the years have been looking up and seeing people looking like they were running over the St John`s Bridge way up there at mile 17 in Portland, the Galer/Madison - Interlaken climbs at mile 20 or so when the SM was changed, wondering if we were going all the way up to the Palomar Observatory in San Diego, getting on top of Rosa Hill after a 1.1 mile ascent at mile 23 in Yakima, . . .  and even the energy lab in Kona. 

 

The biggest surprise, and only time it really backfired, was when I thought running 50 miles along the White River near Mt. Rainier might be a doable first attempt at that distance as I`d just seen an account of running the rolling Wonderland Trail there on PBS, . . . but White River was not the Wonderland Trail and didn`t have much to do with running along a river as we were treated to two 4,000 foot mountain ascents (and descents) instead that DQ`ed me by almost an hour-and-a-half, . . . but set the stage for doing it right the next year.

 

viva la ignorance is bliss in running too. 

 

ps - I`ve run some of the latter parts of the Seattle Rock`n`Roll course (e.g. the daunting Aurora Bridge Hills during this year`s snowy St. Pat`s Dash) and, though I would kind of like to know if the first half is barefoot friendly pavement or not, a mile is a mile to us fitness runners and I`ll probably just take a pair of thongs along if needed.

 

It takes a lot of time just to drive 26.2 miles and I admire those who do.