If you're prone to injury, I would suggest not running two days in a row.

I'd also recommend trying a run-walk method in the race, like run a mile and then walk one minute throughout the race. This method brings down the heartrate every mile and your legs use some different muscles when you're walking. I think the run-walk guru is Jeff Galloway and (of course) he has several books.

Good luck!
Jim

When I was training for my marathon (at the end of a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike) I would run for 9 minutes and walk for 1 minute. I am not a very "motivated" runner, so I would look forward to that 1 minute of walking (read resting). The 9"/1" kept me motivated to keep going, gave me a little time to rest/recover and offered me enough structure during my runs. Even though I am not training for anything right now, when I go out and run, it is still what I do.

I second the taper aspect as well. Make your last long run two weeks before the race and then slowly cut back on mileage. Another thing that may help is make sure you are well hydrated, especially if it going to be a hot/warm day. Before my race, the weather forecasters were saying a warm (85 degrees) and humid day. Therefore, I salted everything I ate and drank plenty of sports drink. The thinking was I would retain a lot of water so I could sweat it out and run no risk of dehydrating. The problem was the forecasters were wrong and it ended up being 55 degrees and raining. Therefore, at every port-o-john, I had to go. Keep an eye out on the weather and drink accordingly.

Good luck!

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My wife asked me if I had signed up for the 401k yet. I told her I hadn't. She asked me why and I told her I couldn't run that far.

I know this may read stupid, but practice eating the night before a run, the day of a run and while on the run. See what works for you and what doesn't. For example, while training for my marathon, I found out they were going to have Gatorade Endurance on the course. So I went and picked up some at the store and put it in my water bottle. On the run, I quickly found out that full strength Gatorade Endurance gave me "rot gut" and had to find a port-o-john quickly. After experimentation, I found that a mixture of 1/2 water and 1/2 Endurance works best. I also found that my stomach really likes Power Gels and really hates the gels from Clif Bar.

I also found that a liquid breakfast of a water bottle of Monster Drink and Carbo Pro was the perfect fuel for my long runs (it was also breakfast before the race). Also, a sensible dinner (I could eat a small amount of most anything the night before) and an early bedtime helped me.

There is an adage to follow before your race: "Nothing new on race day." I suggest practicing everything before the race so you are very ready to do your best.

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My wife asked me if I had signed up for the 401k yet. I told her I hadn't. She asked me why and I told her I couldn't run that far.

I just found this so it's a bit late to give my 2 cents, so how did it go?

This is the first year I didn't complete a 1/2 myself, my twin boys were born in March so the annual April race was scrapped due to travel. I'm making up for it by going the full 26.2 next spring.

I don't know how you managed your training but I am running every other night and weight training on the nights I don't run, I bike 6-12 miles to the gym and take a long run and a long ride on the weekend days. Luckily my wife lets me sleep in because I'm usually not in bed until 11:00 or so with late night runs and class a couple night a week too.

As far as eating I used the long winter training to figure out what works for me, same goes with clothing and hydration. The older I get the more things that used to work no longer cut it. This year I'm also logging all my work in a notebook to look back on to make sure I am being consistent and progressing.

That's pretty quick, I missed the 2 hour mark by a couple minutes last spring. I forgot to check the clock as we started and was trying to calculate where I was the entire run. The next time out I knew where I was but it didn't matter much as I was totally out of shape and came in around 2:18 after basically running for the first time in 2 months after a foot injury.

My new toy is a nike sportband that I can use to challenge my father-in-law on nike's website to see who is logging the most time/miles out there on the road.