In exactly 12 hours I’ll be about 60 minutes in to the Seattle Marathon, the half marathon to be precise. The starting gate is set to spring open at 7:30am and I hope to have completed the 13.1 miles in a little less than 2 hours. I’ve estimated my time to be 1 hour and 53 minutes. Averaging an 8 minute mile would have me coming in just under 1 hour and 45 minutes so I’m buying myself a little more time, even though I averaged less than 8 minutes per mile in the 10k I ran in October. I’m just not sure what to expect tomorrow.

Yesterday I picked up my participants’ packet at the Westin Hotel in downtown Seattle. An entire floor of the Westin is dedicated to the marathon. One room is just for people to pick up their packets. In another room I picked up my shirt (that’s it in today’s photo). Vendors literally were stacked wall to wall in another spot. Then there’s the place to buy more gear, including a “finisher’s shirt.” Goodness.

Laurent, I’m thinking of you and will be keeping you in the front of my mind as I run. If you see this in time, start thinking of me at about 16:30 in Nantes and keep thinking until about 18:30. That’s when I’ll be running.