“I’m on the edge of glory, and I’m hanging on a moment of truth
Out on the edge of glory, and I’m hanging on a moment with you
I’m on the edge, the edge, the edge, the edge, the edge, the edge, the edge,
I’m on the edge of glory, and I’m hanging on a moment with you
I’m on the edge with you.” – Lady Gaga, The Edge of Glory

 Heather gave this sign to me for my birthday and I have it on my desk at work.

So, this title is a little dramatic, I admit, but I added this song to my epic playlist and I just like it. I can pretend I am on the edge of glory, right? I did come in first in my office football pool this week, which really is glorious considering the risky picks I made and the points values I attached to those risks. Also, considering that I am one of only two women in the pool. The other woman came in second so, clearly, we are awesome. I love college football and have enjoyed marathon training long runs as an excuse to sit on the couch and watch football all day and all night on Saturdays.

This week’s “long” run was only 8 miles (that did not stop me from watching football all day in my sweatpants). It felt great for the first 4 miles. Sara and I felt like we were flying. I had to slow down for the last 4 because I am my own worst enemy when it comes to pacing. Speed is my downfall. It ends up in more aches and pains than if I take it easy. I can run 20 miles at a slow pace and suffer few consequences the next day or I can run 5 miles at a fast pace and not be able to walk for 3 days! The choice is mine. I hit somewhere in the middle on Saturday. I have a stiff ITB. This makes me sad because Smruti fixed my soleus on Thursday and I was pain free for a few days.

Someone needs to blow the leaves off my deck.

So, what did I do with all my free time? I finished my playlist. I’ll post it later this week. I obsessed over the weather in Philly. It currently looks like this:

Way to stay consistent, Philly. All this means is that I will take 4 potential marathon outfit combinations to Philly plus, a gazillon different coats, etc. for myself and the children. When I checked the weather 24 hours ago, it was not calling for rain. The rain is new today. I did not have a rainy day outfit picked out. I guess I had better get on that. Y’all know how much I love running in the rain (read the sarcasm). Also, how can it be a low of 30 degrees on Saturday night to a high of 57 degrees on Sunday? At least it is not predicting snow. Yet. This forecast has been so crazy for the past week, there is no telling.

I also spent some time trying to decide which pair of Saucony Rides I will wear for the race. I am partial to these turquoise ones but I think the red ones match my outfit better. I am sure all the people spectating the race are going to notice my shoes.

I also spent a lot of time obsessing over the fact that the other three AMR runners received their pre-race e-mails with their bib numbers and corral assignments on Friday night but I STILL have not gotten mine. I checked my spam filter 1000 times. I e-mailed the race people. Twice.  I tweeted them. I got nothing. Really, I have spent nearly 5 months training for this race so I would like to have my bib number. I verified my registration on the website. Just one more thing to make a tapering mother runner crazy.

I spent part of last week obsessing over the fact that Alison, my fellow cadet, had to drop out due to injury. Head over to anothermotherrunner.com to read her blog post about her emotional decision not to run Philly. I am sad.

So, I will spend the rest of the week trying to cram 9 days of work into 3 (I am off beginning on Thursday and will not come back until after Thanksgiving). I will spend my free time trying to pack for 3 people (Mike is old enough to pack his own things) and doing laundry for 4.  According to Dimity’s schedule, there is also some running to fit in this week. I have to finish my coding homework. I have to feed my family, carb load and find someone to watch the dog while we are gone. I also have to try to sleep and not lose my mind. Pandora just played The Streets of Philadelphia and I took this quiz on Runner’s World on Friday and got this answer as my ideal running city. Not even making this up.