Over-analyzing Cowtown: Can I split a hair three ways?

I'm back from Austin and already miss the trails there. It's a running town, for sure. Fort Worth, well, let me just say this. When I was taking the exit off the highway to go home, to the right was a guy riding a horse in a field. There may be more horse trails in Fort Worth than jogging trails. And unless you are a Cowboy, that's just sad.

Anyway, as I wrote this post, It was T-minus 5 1/2 days before the Cowtown Marathon. I havent really started tapering yet. In Austin, I ran 35 miles during the week. Not the 50 I was doing during the peak of my marathon training, but I'm still getting in the miles. But this week, I'm definitely going to shut it down until Saturday. When I ran in Austin, it was often in the dark and often on uneven dirt. I tweaked my left knee just a little bit - nothing to be concerned about, but its about time to start resting.

I have not run since a 9-miler Saturday and won't run until Tuesday. I'll do 6 then and 6 Wednesday, then that's it until the marathon.

What will I do in the meantime? Worry. Overanalyze. Over think. If I could split a hair three ways about Saturday's race, I would.

I know. I know. Its not healthy, but its no use. This is what I do during marathon week. I think about pace. About fuel. About the weather. When I got back from Austin Sunday afternoon, I went over my splits from my previous three marathons, breaking it down by looking at the first half of my marathons vs. the second half...

Year............1st half=pace.............2nd half/pace.................% slow down
2008............1:50=8:23..................2:18=10:32...................25 percent slower
2007............2:17=10:32................3:03=13:58...................32 percent slower
2005............2:10=9:58..................2:31=11:32...................24 percent slower

Even though I had a faster time in 2008 (4:08), it appears I ran a "better" race in 2005 (4:41) because I didnt slow down as drastically. As you can see, my marathons give a new meaning to "Negative Split." In my 2007 White Rock Marathon race report, I wrote that the only reason I didn't quit is because I couldnt find a medic. Three hours to run the back half of a marathon? Yeah, that was me.

In the second half of marathons, things have been negative alright. Again, its not because I run out of breath, or because I "hit a wall." All my second half problems have been because of painful cramps caused from, what I now believe, drinking toooooo much water.

But, as I wrote in a post a few weeks back, I think I got this cramping thing figured out. I'll bring my salt packets on the road to Cowtown, and hopefully, I can have the kind of negative split I'm supposed to have.