DON'T PANIC!: Boston Edition

This coming Monday, I'm running my fourth marathon. It also happens to be the Boston Marathon, and I'm all sorts of nervous.

Luckily, I have a pack this time. I stumbled upon a few unicorn-clad running types at a bar a few months ago and mustered up an introduction.  From that point on, I was roped in for Tuesday evening runs as a RiffRaffian and a future member of the Unicorn Mafia. Yay, friends! Fast friends -- who love to run and drink good beer as much as I do!

While having a support group certainly raises my marathon preparation bar quite a bit, there are several areas I need to focus on in order to make Boston a successful race. I'm still on the fence about what I want successful to mean this time -- another qualifying time? a PR? a fun experience? a pain-free recovery? a box checked off my bucket list?

At least two of these goals are mutually exclusive. In any case, I rarely make a conscious decision about my performance until I'm at the starting line. Of course, there are plenty of precautions that can be taken to make sure I can go the 26.2 mile distance between Hopkinton and the heart of Boston:

1) Train. I took a bad spill on my bike back in October that derailed my training plans for a few months. Because I was also looking toward the Austin Marathon in February, I managed to squeeze in peak mileage a la the Hal Higdon method in December and January:

5-7 miles M, T, W, Th, F, Sa
10+ miles on Sundays, adding 2 miles each week and alternating long run weeks once I hit 18 miles.

I tracked many of my routes on MapMyRun.

2) Eat well. Eating 10 oz. of of queso the day before the Austin Marathon was a disaster. I cramped up almost immediately after the run began and spent at least 5 minutes of the race in a porta-potty. Just thinking about it makes me hurt. This time I'll focus on carb-loading and won't overdo it on the dairy. Oddly enough, Thai and Chinese food the night before have produced my best results.

3) Sleep well. As a self-proclaimed insomniac, I struggle with falling asleep and staying asleep. The best way to solve the struggle with sleeplessness is to throw anxiety out of the window. This is easier said than done, but an early bedtime accompanied by Justin snuggles and a predictable movie are the best remedies.

5) Find a pacer. This worked so well at Big Sur a year ago after I hit my wall halfway through the race. I started off way too fast, but I settled in with the 03:25:00 pace group to finish. A few of my running buddies from RiffRaff are going for a similar pace, so fingers crossed on holding steady!

6) Zone out. I treat running like meditation and tend to get stuck somewhere between my subconscious and the road for a few hours at a time. If I fall out of my "zone", running turns into a painful, huff-and-puff, physically exhausting feat. I'd much rather glide on air while contemplating daydreams.

Ready or not -- five days to go! LET'S DO THIS. Do you have long distance running tips? Please share 'em!