Seventh Time A Charm?

So today was my big day by accepting the invitation to the New York City Marathon. I have already run 6 marathons in my life. As always, I hope to break 4 hours. Will I or Won't I? I'm no longer that foolish to predict the future. It will all come down to being in the best shape of my life, which I can control to an extent, and being lucky, for which I have no control at all. Perhaps the seventh running of my NYC Marathon will be a charm....

When I ran my race two weeks ago, I had listed myself as a member of the Forest Park Road Runner's Club. I must remind myself to send a check to really be a part of the club. Amongst all FPRR members, I finished the best. Ironically, I'm still not a member.

New York Road Runner's are going to be instituting a corral start for their races. Well, it's about time. The sport's popularity seems to be on the rise again, like it was in the mid-80's, and the times for the first mile for most people is horrible thanks to the congestion.

I did a 10k at the gym tonight. I felt like crap. However, I did pull off a 10.1 mph on the treadmill for a quarter-mile. I don't dare do any longer, for fear of hurting my bones.

The weather for this weekend's Coogan's race is shaping up to be good. 40 degrees and bright sunshine. Couldn't ask for any better, only that I hope the wind is calm. Last year, they claimed the breeze to be 16mph. Really now? It seemed much breezier to me.

My best time at this race was 23 minutes and 51 seconds, which I did a couple of years ago. This will be the 4th running of this race. If there's anything I must do for sure, is to make sure I am lined up when I need to be. The street is narrow, and congestion after crossing the starting line will be a bitch for sure. In fact, I remember doing a lot of zig-zagging because of the slow crowd ahead of me. It definitely cost me a few sceonds. Interestingly, the times and temperatures to all three previous Coogan's Runs have been fairly close to one another:

3/6/2005 - 24:22 36F 50H 5mph 7:52 pace
3/5/2005 - 23:51 35F 44H 14mph 7:42 pace
3/4/2007 - 24:10 34F 54H 16mph 7:48 pace

All 3 races were within 31 seconds of one another.
The big challenge will be my weight. I never weighed more than 159 for any of the Coogan runs.
Right now, I'm tipping the scales at 162.4. I'll probably lose about a pound between now and the morning, but I really need to cut back to get to 159 at least. Losing weight. My curse.