5 more days

Whew! When we started all this marathon planning 5 months ago it seemed like March 18 was ages away.....now it's 5 days away! Asia's life goes smoother if there is a certain amount of predictability. There aren't many things she can control, so we give her leeway wherever we can. For example, Asia thinks that lunch should be at noon and dinner at 6pm. We try to accomodate that as much as possible. With the exception of certain training schedules, Asia has run an average of 5 miles a day for 13 years. She goes out to run and her internal clock tells her when she's run 5 miles. Her Running Fit 501 Running Club meets on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Her preferred (tried and true) race day breakfast is Jimmy Dean Hot Sausage with scrambled eggs. When Asia ran an out-of-town race, I would fix the meal the day before and we took along our toaster oven to reheat it the morning of the race.

Training for the LA Marathon has changed all that....well most of that. For the most part, lunch is still at noon and dinner at 6pm, but the rest of the rules flew out the window. Many days her training called for her to run more than 5 miles. We used a timer to make that easier for her. In addition to her team practices on Tuesday and Saturday we added Wednesday 10 mile runs with Aaron and Michael and every other week a 10 mile run on Sunday. That all went well, although she mentioned frequently that "After LA we could go back to Wednesday nights at home and sleeping in on Sunday morning."

But when I found out that the host hotel we were staying in in Santa Monica didn't have a microwave to reheat sausage and scrambled eggs (which I was sure we could purchase from some local restaurant), my heart skipped a beat.............how would Asia deal with something else on race-day morning? I brought it up at dinner one night. We were discussing other LA plans and I *casually* mentioned the *no microwave* thing. Under his breath Jerry said, " Uh oh!" I quickly continued on to suggest that we ALL have oatmeal and banana that morning...and held my breath. "Ok", she said. Just like that..........OK mom! All my worries for nothing!

And now we are 5 days from the Marathon. Packing, printing off maps and directions and lists. Adding addresses to the GPS and phone numbers to the contact list. It's been quite an experience so far...........and the best is yet to come! Thank you to her Running Fit 501 Running Club for coming in early/staying late to help her get her miles in for the day. Thank you to other running friends (Aaron, Ashley, Eric, Katie, Gwen, Michael, and Elizabeth) who ran with her on Wednesdays and Sundays to make sure her weekly totals matched her training schedule. Thank you to all the friends and family who donated to her fundraising page on Crowdrise. The results there were phenominal! Asia is running this race because all of you got her to this point in her training. We all thank you.

I don't know if I will get to post again before the marathon, but for sure I'll post after we get home. As someone very near to us (Katie) said, "Watch out, LA, here come the Rennings!"