At this point in my marathon training, I’ve done about everything I can do to prepare for the main event, which is now only a week a way. After months of adding more miles every week, I’ve been tapering for almost two weeks now. Tapering means I’ve reduced the intensity and duration of training, to allow the body to recuperate and be in peak condition for the marathon. Tapering is a time for rest, relaxation… and annoying anxieties about the upcoming event.

My primary anxiety is about pace, especially for the first half of the marathon. It’s got nothing to do with competitiveness or feeding the ego, because I could care less what my finishing time is, but if you don’t complete the first half (13.1 miles) by a cut-off time, you’re not allowed to complete the rest of it. I had been under the impression from people who did this event before that the halfway cut-off would be something like 4 hours. That would only take an 18:18 pace (i.e., 18 min., 18 sec. per mile), which is much slower than my usual pace, so there’d be no pressure. Whether that cut-off was changed or just misremembered, I don’t know, but it turns out the halfway cut-off is actually 3 hrs., 15 minutes. That translates to a 14:52 pace, and since my usual training pace has hovered right around 15:00, that could be tight. (Remember, I’m walking, not running.)

I’m reasonably confident that I could walk at a 14:52 pace or better for at least the first 13.1 miles, but the thing that has me fretting about it is that the cut-off is based on “gun time”, meaning the cutoff is 3:15:00 from the overall start, not 3:15:00 from when I cross the starting line. With well over a thousand participants all starting at the same time, and me being lined up near the back of the pack with the walkers, it could take a few minutes to even get to the starting line once the event has already started, and I don’t know how long it will take for the initial congestion to ease up enough to make my target pace possible. The more that starting line congestion delays my “real” start, the faster my pace has to be to make that cut-off. If it were to take me 5 minutes to get to the starting line, and that was the point where I achieved full freedom of movement, then I’d be looking at 3:10:00 to make the halfway cut-off, which translates to a pace of 14:29. I’m not saying I can’t do that as a walking pace, but it’s faster than any of my training walks have been, and that makes me nervous. I’m definitely feeling like I’ll be monitoring my time and pace more than I ever expected to - at least for the first half - and if it’s looking iffy, I may run a little after all. I have no intention or desire to run much of a marathon that I only trained to walk, but my slowest run is still faster than my fastest walk, so running a half-mile here or there to give myself some breathing room isn’t out of the question.

I’m nervous about my shins, which usually hurt for the first few miles until they warm up. The faster I start, the worse they usually get and the longer it takes them to settle down. With the cut-off looming, I don’t feel like I’m going to have the luxury of easing into my pace, so I’m worried my shins will be screaming at me for the first several miles.

I’m…not nervous, but I don’t know what word to describe it… I guess just aware, maybe, that I may not have one of my usual TnT walking parters as company the whole time. Some of the coaches and walkers I’ve trained with are training for other events, and some of the other NJ Marathoners are only doing the Half. There aren’t many full marathoners (walking) besides me, so my two steadiest walking companions have been Alison and Joanne. Alison is a coach, so even though I expect to see her, I also expect her to be “working the crowd” to check up on other TNT’ers. Joanne has been a very good walking partner and I could see us sticking together most of the way, but then again, I don’t know what her take on this faster pace thing will be, so our strategies for hitting that cut-off may cause us to part company. Physically, there’s no significant difference between walking alone or with somebody, but psychologically, it can be very helpful to have company. Conversation can be enjoyable and a nice distraction, but even in those quiet times, two (or more) people who feel like slowing down often keep going just to keep up. It’s a strangely motivating thing, even when there’s no competition involved.

The cut-off is the big stress, but there’s plenty of other little things to fret about: having to wear a strap around the ankle that holds the timing chip, and worrying about chafing since my regular socks don’t go very high (and I’m not about to try a new sock on marathon day); deciding how to carry my gels, since there will be water stations and I won’t be wearing my usual water carrier that has a pocket for gels; figuring out how I’ll find Kat at the finish if I don’t carry a cell phone the whole way…

Oh, well. I know the fretting is normal, and one way or another, I’ll get there. If I don’t get there, I’ll get at least halfway there, and I still raised a nice chunk of change for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.