I am supposed to be training for the marathon I signed up for three months ago, when I thought maybe all I needed to really motivate myself to get after it was a concrete goal. The race, which is to take place in the neighborhood of 10,000 feet elevation, and which I now deeply regret signing up for, is in three days. Here is how I’ve been getting ready.

• Occasional 3- to 5-mile runs at lunchtime, punctuated by a “long” run, the distance of which I increase by much more than I should each week, since I put off training until approximately six weeks before the race.
• One particularly hot and miserable run during what probably should have been my tapering (rest) period, when I told myself at least it wouldn’t be this hot at the race. Fingers crossed.
• Several camping trips to relatively high altitude, where sleeping at elevation can’t not be doing something for me.
• Related: Convincing myself that climbing above 18,000 feet three months ago has probably left my body reasonably well-acclimated.
• Bringing groceries inside one bag at a time instead of all at once. This entails several (!) trips up and down the single flight of steps into my garden-level apartment.
• Cutting down on my consumption of carbs and sugar, particularly beer.
• Just kidding! I only started doing that this week, so it probably won’t make much of a difference by Saturday.
• Endless perseverating about potential setbacks on the course, including but not limited to: last-minute changes in the course which cause me to become terribly lost, excessive snow/post-holing, twisting an ankle, twisting the other ankle, being the absolute very last person to finish, collapsing just before the finish, diarrhea.
• Rolling out my pesky IT band, which is maybe the most legitimate form of training I’ve engaged in.*
• Sometimes I do half-assed yoga stretches while I’m sitting at my desk working.

*still counts even if I’m eating ice cream while doing it.

Perfect, as the saying goes, is the enemy of good. I did not make as much time as I should have to train for this race, but come hell or high water, it is happening this Saturday.

Wish me luck. I’m gonna need it.