By the Numbers: Race Day Is Quickly Approaching

Progress as the 4th quarter of my training block begins

What sports cliché do we wanna use here, entering the fourth quarter of marathon training?

• It’s gut check time?
• This is where the rubber meets the road?
• Hold your four’s in the air?
• It’s winning time?

I digress. But we’re four(!) Sundays away from my first crack at a 2025 Chicago qualifier, breaking 3:10, and setting a 43-minute marathon PR in the process. This is the time of the training schedule when you realize there are only two weeks left of mileage building until the taper begins, it hits you that you will need to start carb-loading soon, and you spend too much time reading marathon Reddit threads, getting pumped for people who had breakthroughs and laughing hysterically at horror stories of people hitting the wall, only to cry yourself to sleep hoping this isn’t you in the weeks ahead.

Race day is no longer a concept at this point and is a very real date on the calendar. I have mixed emotions on this, partially relieved that race day is almost here and that the monotony of training run after training run is going away. Each run becomes more focused, a chance to improve and get into the ideal race shape. I’m…