GO TIME.

There's only one thing left to do: RUN!

Do you cry when you say goodbye to your dog before a trip? I sure do / did / always will! Ellie gave me lots of kisses, but she also gave me The Look when she saw me take the suitcases out of the closet…

Hi hi hi from the oh so friendly skies, on board an Alaska Airways plane from Boston to Seattle and then, assuming we make our very tight connection, from Seattle to Eugene.

After 14 weeks of training, 14 weeks of 4:20 AM alarms, 14 weeks of long, lonely runs trying desperately to avoid the many hills of Hopkinton, NH, there’s only one thing left to do.

It’s time to run the Eugene Marathon.

I’m tempted to do what I do best: write thousands of emotional words, using far too many flowery adjectives, talking about how this race is, in many ways, 11 years in the making for me. About how it’s my first attempt at a marathon in seven years. My first marathon since having a baby 4.5 years ago.

But in a twist: I don’t feel like doing that at all.

I feel like sitting on this plane, doing the other thing I do best: watching Top Gun: Maverick and then, as soon as it’s over, watching Top Gun, and if there’s more time after that (which there will be — it’s a long flight), re-watching this week’s episode of Ted Lasso (which I loved).

I feel like conserving my energy.

I feel like zoning out.

I feel like staying off social media from now until after the race on Sunday.

And, honestly, I don’t feel like making OMG the biggest deal about running this marathon.

Because while, yes, it is 11 years in the making (I was supposed to run the 2012 Eugene Marathon, but it didn’t work out), and it is my first marathon in a long time, I don’t need to make it that dramatic. (Who am I right now?!)

I want the race to go well.

Training went beautifully, thanks primarily to Coach Kaitlin (along with the nutrition guidance from Meghann Featherstun). She gave me workouts that terrified me and challenged me, and that, in a surprise perhaps only to me, I executed. I nailed a lot of workouts over the past 14 weeks. Not all of them! But many of them.

In a Final Surge note earlier this week, Kaitlin wrote, simply, “You are FIT.” Do I believe her? Of course not!

Do I trust her?

100%.

Even though, at the tail end of taper, I’m feeling puffy, sluggish, heavy, and decidedly unfit, I trust Kaitlin.

As for the race plan.

I had a pre-race call with Kaitlin on Tuesday — during which she gave me the kind of pep talk only an incredibly kind, caring, and invested running coach can give — she told me, quite simply, “I believe you are a 3:25 marathoner.”

I laughed out loud.

She didn’t like that reaction. I couldn’t control it!

The plan for Eugene is not to try and run a 3:25 marathon. That’s a time she believes I am someday capable of, and she wants me to start telling myself that I am a 3:25 marathoner. And on a dream day? Maybe! Someday!

For Eugene, the plan is simple: Try to run in the 8:00–8:10 pace range. In a perfect world and in a dream race, the first 10 miles should feel easy (I can’t imagine 8:00–8:10s feeling “easy” or even comfortable, but again, I’m choosing to trust and to try), the next 10 miles are where I should stay focused and dialed in, and then the last 10K can be as spicy as I want it.

As for my goals?

1. I would really like to PR. My marathon PR is an 11-year-old 3:51 from the Manchester City Marathon. It’s hard to explain how excited I am that my running buddy from that race will also be at this one. Not running with me, not in a pacing capacity, but on the sidelines, and, as promised, “in sequins.”

2. My deep-down marathon dream time has always been 3:45. I’d love to do that. Anything below that and I’ll be thrilled! (Yes, I know that running 8:00–8:10s for 26.2 miles comes out closer to 3:35 than 3:45. I know that. I’m aware.)

3. A real dream would be to have a race day that showcases my training. Training went well, and I’d be so psyched to have a race that reflects that.

4. And the goal I can’t control: a happy stomach. It’s been a rough past two weeks. My stomach has gone a bit haywire since Boston. I was finally able to convince my doctor to call in an order of the steroid that typically helps calm potential Crohn’s flares (Uceris / budesonide), and when I went to pick it up on the way to the airport, learned that insurance wouldn’t approve it (ridiculous), but I “could pay out of pocket, which would be $775, or $1,035 if we use a coupon card,” and oh my god make it make sense. So, let’s see! I’m hoping that Hayward Magic works on inflammatory bowel diseases! If I make stops, I make stops! I don’t want to feel defeated by that, and that’s why I don’t have a rigid time goal for this race. (So to alllllllll the people who keep insisting I’m trying to BQ, let me again say that running sub-3:35 for the purpose of qualifying for the Boston Marathon is not my goal! Even if that’s where Kaitlin’s prescribed paces put me. I will always want to work Boston, not run Boston, so 3:35 is an arbitrary time for me. Cool? Cool! Not everyone wants to BQ, I promise. Or, less politely: Stop pushing this goal on me! It’s not my goal!)

Truly, I just want to have a good day, and the nice thing about that goal is that it can mean so many things. I want to feel good, I want to run happy, and when it gets hard, I want to be able to get myself out of that.

Anything can happen on race day.

Let’s have fun out there, OK?!

(LOL @ earlier Ali who “wasn’t going to write thousands of words.” She’s such a liar. Always has been.)

And hey, if you’re in the Eugene area this weekend, I’m hosting a live show with Shalane Flanagan at The Graduate Hotel at 12 PM. It’s free and open to the public. No tickets needed. It’s going to be fun and low key, which feels right to me the day before the Big Day. (Otherwise, I’m planning to stay pretty chill, pretty low key, pretty away from the action and doing family things. And eating.)

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This week on the Ali on the Run Show:

• My 2023 Boston Marathon Experience: 90 minutes talking to myself about everything I did in Boston!

• Aisha McAdams & Katherine Burgess, Founders of Rhoam Creative Studio: Only 1% of creative agencies are owned by women. What a bleak statistic! But photographer Aisha McAdams (@ai.shoots) and graphic designer Katherine Burgess (@katherine_kart) are here to up that number. They are the founders of Rhoam Creative Studio, a creative design and production studio for sports and lifestyle brands. They have worked with brands including Puma, Tracksmith, Bandit Running, On Running, Maurten, Strava, Brooks, Hoka, Ciele, and more. I’m a fan.

What I’m watching: I loved this week’s episode of Ted Lasso. I laughed, I cried. Sure, some parts were a little over-the-top, even for Lasso standards, but I was howling along. Exactly what I needed this week!

What I’m reading: Taylor Swift + women’s empowerment, written by one of my favorite people. An obvious must-read.

And so…

Take good care of yourselves. Take good care of each other. Never forget that you’ve got this! (OK, that one is a note to self this week.) Thank you so much for being here. And whatever you’re going through, keep going.

Love,

Ali