Keep adding to my Boston Marathon plan

I don't know that I'll necessarily remember everything that I'm scheduling myself to do during the marathon in 2 weeks from tomorrow, but here's what is currently set for at least attempting:

Photos of each town limit sign; selfie with Santa if/when found

Start: Hoyt Statue (front lawn of Center School) & Starter Statue (center of town) -- not sure I pass by en route to corrals

Mile 1+: Stylianos Kyriakides Statue

Mile 2: Spencer statue (left side @ intersection of Olive, Frankland, and West Union St.)

Mile 3: Ashland Clock Tower (Union & Chestnut St.), memorial to Spencer?

Mile 12.5: Wellesley

Mile 15: Balloon arch plus block party

Mile 16: The Hills Start Now sign

Mile 19: Johnny Kelly Statue (NW corner of Walnut St. & Commonwealth Ave.)

Mile 20?: Newton Firehouse, Heartbreak Hill Running Company

Mile 24?: Citgo sign in distance

Dunkins (get munchkin or donut) at:

Ashland - 41 W Union St. & Shell Station 123 Union St.

Framingham – 334 Waverly St.

Natick – 117 W Central St. & 50 E Central St.

Wellesley – 98 Central St. & 12 Washington St.

Chestnut Hill – 15 Commonwealth Ave.

Brookline – 1659 Beacon St. & 1316 Beacon St. & 1008 Beacon St.

USATF? Maybe.

An acquaintance in some of my Facebook groups posted about the award that he got from USA Track & Field. I took a look at the website to see what it took to get that, and I see that I would have qualified for the same award for years, now (assuming their point schedule hasn't changed drastically) - really, for the past approximately 10 years. (When did I first join Marathon Maniacs and start running at least 6 marathons a year?)

Not only that, but I'd be able to compete in their various championship races. Heck, looking back at some of the recent results, I just might even be competitive! Wouldn't that be a hoot: "podiuming" after the age of 50?

Some other opportunities and discounts available to boot. Hmm...

Out as pacers!

Very surprised to find out earlier tonight that the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM) has decided to use a different pacing team for this year's races rather than have Marathon Maniacs (MM) be their pacers again. I've been pacing MCM or MCM 50k with MM since 2018 (twice for each race). 

I had originally held off registering because the pace group usually gets its own link for free registration into the race. Since I have no expectation (or even likelihood, given the circumstances) of being part of the pace team this year, I went to the MCM website to register. I was mildly surprised that there were no issues. Log in, make my selection and fill out a few things that aren't stored in memory, and I was finished a couple of minutes later. Where once MCM would have been sold out by now, there are still spaces remaining. So, if you're inclined to, sign up!

Another silver lining: this opens my availability up for being a pacer for a singleton racer that may need/want it. Maybe I can get on Achilles International's list. (I've had difficulty properly registering on their website for some reason.) Doesn't matter that it's not a paid gig, or even covered registration. I only plan to run one race per year as an A race to get a BQ, and MCM will never be that race. While there are certainly tougher races out there, this one is not a BQ possibility for me. And I'd rather soak up the atmosphere along the course, to boot.

Cause and Effect

Intermittently over the last few weeks, I've had a little bit of a blister (manageable) on the inside of my left pinky toe. I had recently handled it and bandaged it up with some gauze. Simultaneously, there was a pseudo-blister/corn on the inside of the same foot, a bit down from my big toe.

On Sunday, I had my long run. Given the bandage on my pinky toe, I couldn't use my regular toe socks, so wore a pair of my Wright socks instead (double-layer socks). Unfortunately, though, my gait and how my foot was landing was abnormal, so the inside of my foot was rubbing far more than would be normal. Yep -- blister time. In fact, I wound up stopping a few miles early because it became painful enough to keep on pushing through.

And, given how everything was working, I also wound up slightly exacerbating my pinky toe, too. Oy! Not a good way to be entering the taper period. 

When I finally got a real opportunity to address my foot after getting home from the gym, it was a rather nasty sight. 

And while this morning was a bit difficult in terms of putting on my shoes, things settled down enough where by the end of the day, my foot feels fine. Sure, I'm not going to take off the one blister bandage for several days, and will hopefully be able to take off the other bandage soon. But it looks like I might be able to handle this in relatively short order, likely by replacing my running with elliptical for a day or two to try to keep the cardio up while minimizing any possibility of exacerbating a blister. Definitely need to make sure that I not only get to Coast Guard Marathon solidly, but also survive that well enough to get to Boston 8 days later in sufficient condition to finish. (I'm not running Boston for time, so all I need is to be  mobile enough to enjoy the experience.)

Sydney Marathon improvements

Just received an e-mail from the Sydney Marathon (since I ran it last year) including a list of many of the improvements they will be making (further to all of the feedback they received from among all of last year's runners) to help secure their race as the 7th Major. I would really like to think that the relevant powers that be reconsider providing a provisional star to all of us from last year's race, not just for giving them the needed turnout to help get them over their first hurdle, but the needed feedback to possibly help them get past their second hurdle in becoming a Major.

A revamped course The kick off for the marathon will now be from North SydneyOval, echoing the historic start line of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Marathon. Plus, we have removed the tight sections around Darling Harbour and Pyrmont, introducing longer, straighter sections, and reducing the number of U-turns.

Less kms in Centennial Park You can breathe easy, the number of out and backs the previous route took through Centennial Park have been reduced by four kilometres.

An earlier start time Yes! The marathon will now start at 6am - one of the earliest start times of all Australia's big city marathons.

Starting line improvements As you requested, not only is there a new start line at North Sydney Oval, we've also upgraded the facilities at the starting lines to include more toilets (for those pre-race nerves), a longer and wider start chute, and better designed starting waves.

A bigger and better expo This year we are heading to the ICC Sydney for a bigger than ever Sydney Marathon Running Show, presented by ASICS.

Don't be so quick to leap to negative conclusions

What do you think when you look at this marathon course profile? Looks horrid, doesn't it? Something you could easily psych yourself out over?

Well, before you do a number on yourself, regardless of whether it's a course profile like this for an upcoming marathon, or some other seemingly negative situation or piece of information, make sure that you have the full picture.

The most important part of this specific picture -- the course profile for the Coast Guard Marathon in Elizabeth City, NC -- is what was missing: the y axis:

Look carefully, and you see that the maximum elevation difference is 3m (10 feet). In the grand scheme of things, hardly a blip. Between all the rising and falling, there is a total of 88 feet of elevation gain (and loss) during the entire race.

When viewed on a different site, such as findmymarathon.com, it looks even flatter/more manageable:

Get the facts before assuming the worst. Regardless of what you're dealing with.