You already have the tools you need to run a truly amazing race. You’ve trained well, you’ve tapered well, you’ve eaten well. Since you can’t control weather or financial collapse, the focus should be on what you can control. Follow these simple guidelines and you’ll show up ready to run your best marathon. Here are a few reminders of what you should do (and what you shouldn’t) during your marathon week.

Behaviors to avoid:
1) Over-eating for comfort. Throw out the candy, clean out the refrigerator and make sure you have a good supply of healthy snacks on hand this week. Nervous eating accompanies nervous energy. Bananas are a particularly good food to have on hand as a nutritional alternative, which will directly benefit your running.

2) Looking for that magic pill by trying something new. The marathon expo can be an entertaining experience with lots of tantalizing products and services, all claiming to guarantee success on Sunday. Don’t buy it. Literally. If you want a souvenir, it’s fine to buy something for use after the marathon. Nothing that you buy at the expo should be used on race day unless you forgot to pack gloves, Body Glide, or nip guards before you left.

3) Losing focus after the race begins. If during the race you find yourself succumbing to your emotions and flying down the first descents, imagine a coach grabbing your collar from behind to gently remind you to hold yourself back. The excitement can be overwhelming. Keep it together.

Even if the love of your life and your soul mate passes you early on, as the saying goes, let them go. Adding a marathon spin to this phrase, you’ll catch them during the last 10K. Focus on running your own race. If someone you are running with or a pace group member goes rogue, suggest once that they should pull back. If they don’t, just let them go. Don’t be too hard on them when you pass them farther along on the course. Focus on your own race and do what you came here to do. Wear and set your own watch!

Behaviors to seek out:
1) Know the course. Spend a few minutes going through all of the available tools such as this interactive course map for this year’s Chicago Marathon. Visualize every mile marker, bridge, water stop and aid station, and where your family and friends will be. By knowing all of these things in advance you will reduce unnecessary anxiety. Notice the camber of the street, the angle of the hills, and the wind on the bridges. Then realize that none of these are any different than the conditions in which you have trained. After you’ve done this, stop thinking. Just let your mind go blank. There’s nothing more for you to think about. You are prepared!

2) Plan your run and run your plan. Maintain discipline and consistency. This is no different than the message you should have received during the first week of your training. Race day is not a time to get creative but it is a time to flexible, tolerant and patient. If you’ve trained with Race with Purpose, you have been trained to Commute, Warm-Up & Race. All that is left is to execute this plan. During this last week, don’t begin to mentally shave seconds off of your Commute Pace to try and hit a specific time goal. Remember, your Commute Pace is the most important pace of the run. Do it right and you will feel strong and empowered as you run your final 10K. Blow it and you will be like any other marathoner out there struggling through an excuse known as “the wall.” Your Commute is run at a pace at which you will run no faster, not a pace that you will try to stay close to. It flexes to keep your effort level constant. If you have been training for a 4-hour goal, you are not going to switch from 9:15’s to 9:00’s on race day. Even a 10 second acceleration of Commute Pace will only serve to guarantee your inability to Race at mile 20. Remind yourself that you are here to Race a 10K. Nothing else matters.

You have trained for this in real conditions, not in a laboratory. You have trained in heat, wind, cold, and rain. There is nothing that you will need to overcome on race day except your own negative thoughts. Turn it positive and you have nothing left to do but succeed.

3) Visualize your success. Every evening before going to sleep, see yourself standing at the start with your teammates. Then visualize yourself smiling and laughing with each other as you run along the course. Who will you look at when you hit the 16-mile marker, realizing that your Warm-Up is about to begin? What will you say to the other members of your running group when you enter the beginning of your 10K feeling strong and race ready?

Look at yourself right now. How do you look as you cross the finish line? Think of how you will answer each of these questions, and then relax and smile to yourself and be content with your preparation.

On race day, you will see all of the same faces that you have met along your journey and some smiling new ones. You have worked extremely hard to get to this point. This race is not your final exam but your victory lap. All of your coaches, teammates, friends, family, and spectators will be out on the course with one purpose: to celebrate your success. This race is your graduation ceremony. You’ve already earned all of the credits.

While Race with Purpose is about helping adults to achieve their endurance sport and community impact personal bests, we have a pretty active group of college alumni that feel strongly about, and support their college football teams. It is, after all, College Football Season and there is no greater sports season than college football season. We have representatives from Penn State (Kitteny Lions), The Ohio State University (Bucknuts), UCLA (Teddy Bears), Georgia Tech (They have really cute coeds so I’ll keep my mouth shut), Notre Dame (cheaters) and many others including my own alma mater The University of Southern California Trojans who are currently ranked number one in the nation. Oh, did I mention that they beat The Ohio State University Bucknuts last night? CindyJo is nashing her teeth right now, and that’s just because she hates we USC boys, having nothing to do with the hapless Bucknuts.

So while the weather begins to get cooler, tempers around this sport begin to get a little hotter as we head towards our collective fall marathons and the BCS championship. Integrity and accountability are two foundational characteristics of a Race with Purpose athlete. It is with this in mind that issues, questions and debates have arisen over when can someone affiliate with a specific college football team. This came up most recently when one of our own RwP coaches, Coach Joshquatch, a Columbia University graduate forsake his alma mater and ditched his own Columbia University Lions to affiliate with Chase Daniels and the Missouri Tigers. The Speedy Sasquatch has no affiliation what-so-ever with Missouri University. His position, you should know, is an upgrade from the hairy beast’s normal behavioral flaw of rooting for whomever he feels like from week to week and still calling himself a fan. Hogwash! As stated in the ESPN Fan Rules:

“Nobody is a fan of college football in general, not even Lee Corso.”

To clarify this disturbing issue, we at Race with Purpose have done two things. First we do not acknowledge The Speedy Sasquatch’s affiliation with the Missouri Tigers and find his personal attraction to Chase Daniels a bit disturbing - not that there’s anything wrong with that. And secondly, we have devised on our own the College Football Fan Laws. Only later did we find ESPN fans had been through their own predicament and approached their solution in much the same way.   Therefore without any more formal ado, The Race with Purpose College Football Fan Laws.

You may affiliate with, and therefore support, root, go crazy for, wear face paint of, do touchdown pushups in the stands (or in your living room or local bar) after, and heckle the opponents of a specific college football team, only if you meet one or more of the following criteria:

1. You did your undergrad work at that school
2. You live in that city
3. You did your graduate work at that school
4. You have a sibling that goes to that school
5. You grew up with a family that met the criteria of 1-4
6. Before opportunities arose through conditions 1-4, you had a formative experience watching or following that school
7. You had a spouse, girl/boy-friend, Friend(s) with Benefits, or hooked up with someone on Spring Break that went to that school and at some point wore the football jersey of that school

Anything else is considered to be fair weathered and disingenuous at best, and sleazy at worst and is expressly forbidden under Fan Laws.

Agree, disagree? Add your recommendations for additional Fan Laws below in the comment section.

Oh and we categorically reject the “Our team sucks this year” excuse. I had to go through my entire undergraduate and graduate experience at USC without ever beating UCLA or Notre Dame. How do you think I felt that our basketball team had a better record than our football team against those schools? I have no sympathy for that lame-ass excuse. Bottom line, Race with Purpose team members stand by their teammates during the good times and the bad times, and this applies to their allegiance to their college football teams as well.

For a list of over 83 other ESPN Fan Rules (obviously not as strong as RwP Fan Laws), check out http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=rules/070905

On November 3rd 2006, JetPack “Tyler” Darby was preparing for the biggest moment of his life, and it wasn’t just about preparing to run his first marathon in a few hours. He was about to ask the woman that he loved, the one that he had been following, and dare I say coveting, for almost fourteen years, Kelley Ward, to marry him.  He did, she said “yes” and the rest is history. OK, it’s not nearly that simple. Kelley, or Special K as we know her, learned early on what marriage challenges with JetPack might be like as within the next 12 months they purchased a new home, and he looked for a new job all while training for Ironman Moo 2007.  As if, training for an Ironman wasn’t hard enough, JetPack and Special K did all of this with JetPack under the spotlight of the virtual blogworld paparazzi as a member of Team Race Athlete.

I had the pleasure of being a small part of this experience and in the process got to know JetPack and Special K even better, and quickly understood just how amazing and grounded these two people are.

We were so incredibly excited when Tyler and Kelley invited us to their wedding in Philadelphia this weekend. Cindy and I have been a couple for quite some time, long enough to see most of our friends get married, divorced and remarried, so we’ve seen it all and are pretty good at knowing when couples will work and when they won’t. Trust me, it’s not like they’re perfect as individuals, I mean Special K can’t drive for shit. Our mutual friend Emily can attest to experiencing the white knuckling, red-light running, wrong side of the street experiences we had with Special K at the wheel of our rental car in Madison during Ironman weekend. And Jetpack, well he wasn’t planning the Iron Nut for nothing. But together, these two are quite the force, like a tag team of positive energy and purpose. In the case of Kelley and Tyler, this is beyond a perfect match. They’ve already been through  more than most couples were ever intended to, so from our point of view, the hard part is already done. This wedding is, therefore, the beginning of all of the good times and promises that life is meant to provide.

But I digress…

I know that was a long-winded preamble so I’ll cut to the particulars of the Iron Wedding weekend. We arrived in Philadelphia on Thursday night and found that Tyler and Kelley had picked up the cost of one of the nights for our room and provided us with a lovely welcome basket. To continue their graciousness, Cindy and I were invited to the reception dinner, for a terrific meal and an opportunity to reunite with the Darby clan and meet new members of Kelley’s family.

The rehearsal dinner was absolutely perfect with a few toasts, a few roastings and a perfect blend of Tyler playing the strong host and Kelley graciously playing the perfect hostess.  In a particularly emotional moment, Tyler presented his dad with a beautiful watch inscribed with the words “Iron Father” on the back, representing the relationship they have and the strength that exists within this family which is gaining a new member.

Of course any seriousness went by the wayside with this crew, as after dinner the pre-celebration continued back at the hotel bar with stories of Tyler growing up, the arrival of drunken pilot friends and alcohol, and alcohol and alcohol. I mean seriously, Tyler picked the location of the rehearsal dinner across the street from this pet care establishment. What was he trying to suggest?

Friday morning began with me meeting Jetpack for what would be his last run as a single man, a 5.1-mile run along the Schuykill River and boat house row. The trials and blessing s of life came clearly into focus as we ran passed two homeless men debating the merits of the dollar menus at McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s. We did the obligatory Rocky run up the stairs of the Art Museum steps and from the top we paused to stare at the Cathedral Basilica where JetPack and Kelley would say there vows just a few hours later. Our run continued along, what else, Kelly Drive. Along the way, we compared wedding planning to Ironman planning and Tyler was absolutely convinced that his Ironman was far easier by comaprison.

He did like the fact that the night before his main event, he didn’t have to eat dinner at 5PM and could carbo load with his favorite libation and it wasn’t CarboPro. As we made our way back to Tyler’s hotel and the end of our run, a serene calmness fell over him. He was ready.

RACE DAY

The Swim:

The choice of venue, the Cathedral Basilica, was out of this world. It was simply extraordinary. Looking up at the ceiling, we wondering how they possibly crafted this immense and intricate structure. The ceremony began with the priest pointing out that this was a historical wedding If only because the bride arrived thirty minutes early. Never in the history of the church has that happened.

Having lost her father, Kelley walked down the aisle alone, a very powerful and emotional statement that had everyone in the audience holding their breaths and causing Tyler to bubble up and cry like a baby, the priest was kind enough to point this out as well, in case anyone in attendance missed it. Kelley made a beautiful bride and the dress, enhanced by Mary, made for a true once in a lifetime experience and a look that was jaw dropping.

Below, Tyler pulled it together long enough to say his vows, exchange rings and officially begin his new life with his wife. Shortly thereafter, Mr. and Mrs. Jetpack walk back up the aisle with Kelley carrying the red rose that was placed on the railing during the ceremony in memory of her father.

T-1

Our first transition required only a short walk to the reception and no change in clothing.

The Bike:

With the formal part of the wedding complete, we all headed back to the Sofitel hotel for the reception, which was without a doubt worthy of “E” Entertainment television in terms of the thought that went into each aspect of the evening. Upon arriving, the foyer contained digital photo albums of the couple and as we walked into the main ballroom, we were provided with paper planes with 08.01.08 written onto them. As the newlyweds entered the ballroom, they were showered in these planes by their guests. This is definitely the first time that I’ve ever thrown a paper airplane at a wedding and didn’t get scolded or removed.

A great touch was that the tables and table cards were not numbered, rather they were labeled with dates and numbers of events from throughout their courtship. We sat at, what else, table 140.6, while others sat at tables recognized for their engagement date 11.03.2006, 13.1 signifying Kelley’s completion of the Philadelphia Distance Run and others referencing their individual birth dates.

Given that the bride went to Julliard, you can expect the dancing to be outrageous and the new couple kicked things off surprising everyone with a Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers routine that would have easily won them the competition at Dancing with the Stars. Yes, Tyler looked a little like George Hamilton in comparison to his lovely bride, but the man has moves and the effect was extraordinary, even more so when we later found out that only 25 percent of the dance was choreographed and the rest was made up on the fly.

Nothing was left to chance. The kids got their own Net Jets kids packages, there was a separate VIP lounge area, great food and amazing friends and family. Joe Wibner “Trifilmer” and his wife added to the experience by bringing with them special race bibs made for this event, which Tyler proudly wore. Even the cake got into the action with a topper of a bride and a groom sharing a ride on their bicycle. I’m not sure if it was a BMC because it required a magnifying glass to see all of the detail, but you can clearly see the deep dish aero wheels.

T2:

As you might expect, we took our time in our second transition as everyone including the bride and groom changed into clothes that more exemplified Kelley and Tyler’s clear urban street upbringing.

The Run

The evening continued until one o’clock on the rooftop of The Continental, a cool bar on 18th Street. As August 1st rolled over into August 2nd, Tyler leaned over to celebrate the completion of their first day of marriage, a very successful one at that.

For those that couldn’t be there in person, you missed a terrific event, but more importantly you were equally in the thoughts of the bride and groom and in those of the attendees. Many glasses were raised to those who the happy couple knew and invited but were unable to attend.

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as we enjoyed being there.

Congratulations Kelley and Tyler on a lifetime of happy experiences and great race results.