Two Weeks To Go

Two weeks before the LA Marathon, I would love to say I am feeling confident about my upcoming race. As this will be my fifth time starting the Stadium to the Sea course, I know what to expect more than any other marathon.  I have already put in all of the hard work while remaining healthy and, unlike my training for Long Beach, have somehow managed to stay injury free.  I will even end up exceeding my mileage total because I started my training schedule a week early to shift my peak distance one week ahead of a week-long trip to Oahu (I still ran, just not nearly as much).

So why am I not confident?  Because I'm terrified I won't be able to wake up!

This is the first time race day coincides with the change to Daylight Savings Time.  In other words, I will lose an hour on the a morning where I will have to wake up earlier than normal.  If you've read my previous race reports, you may have noticed I often mention being anxious the night before a race, challenges falling to sleep, and concerns about being able to wake up early.  By my nature, I am not a morning person even though running has forced me to become more so (I prefer running in the morning before it gets hot).  I hate waking up when it is still dark.  

In order to give myself enough time to sip coffee and enjoy a light breakfast before driving to catch a 5am shuttle bus from Santa Monica, I will need to wake up around 3:30am (2:30am under Standard Time).  Since I just got back from Hawaii, I have two additional hours to make up (which is not as bad as it sounds as I managed to mostly wake up on West Coast time for most of the days we were there).  So I have already begun to shift my hours towards East Coast time.  It hasn't been easy. My wife just got back from a week long trip to New York and even she hasn't been able to wake up at the same time as me.  I experience time shifts like being on a pendulum.  One morning I wake up early, but then can't fall asleep early...so I wake up later on the next.   To smooth the transition, I cannot simply shift my sleep schedule, but my eating schedule as well.

By next week I hope to be regularly waking up at 3:30am on DST, so I only have to wake up an hour early on race day.  Crossing fingers I can get there.