4 Dtg... Chicago marathon

Marathon #4 is just over 4 short days away. I am scared and excited for this race. The day I stop getting butterflies for these events, is the day I need to find something new to do.

My new Chicago marathon shirt that wonderful, wonderful got me from Niketown...
(me with the EL in case you are unfamiliar with the Chicago EL. It's Chicago's subway/metro system-- the routes are the colored lines on the shirt)
"Run Like EL" gotta hand it to Nike for being uber-creative :)

• By Sunday at 12pm, I will have logged 530 running miles during this cycle. Not quite where I wanted to be...

• 80.5 Cycle miles

• Survived the infamous Calf/Shin problem that prevented me from running for 2+ months

• The longest runs I did were 15 miles. This makes me nervous, but somewhat comforted after looking at the Hanson Marathon Program. (Their longest runs top out at 16 and my training looked similar to their schedule. Not on purpose.)

• Nearly all of my runs were negative split/ finish stronger runs. This makes me confident.

• A 1:48 PR half marathon, and an "easy" 1:53 half in hotter weather. Confidence boosters for sure.

• I'm nervous about hitting mile 21.9 I should realize that the vast majority of my miles were "quality" and for me, had a purpose. At least, that's what I keep telling myself. I just don't know what is going to happen.

• A "3" in front of my time would make me happy as a clam. What the heck does that even mean?

• My dad (with my wisdom) realized he could use this race as a BQ for 2013. Subsequently it has now possibly gone from "fun run with my dad" to "something a bit more stressful." It all started when he mentioned we could follow a pace group for 3:55, his new BQ time. I said- well,,, you can count it for 2013. I guess he thought it wouldn't count. Crap. What have I done?!?

• The new debate is 3:50 or 3:55 pace group. I vote 3:50 right now. That is surely subject to change. But with my training, and my daad's training at the hottest parts of the day in Florida (his favorite time to run), I think we could pull off a 3:50ish marathon since it will be relatively nice weather unless it has changed since the last time I checked 23 minutes ago.

• I am looking forward to getting this race over and moving onto seriously training for the Miami Marathon,and running (and potentially BQ'ing) with my best friend Tribu. The fire is lit under my butt to train hard to be able stay with her during the race. NO EXCUSES!!!

What marathon training plans have you used? Anyone out there use a lower mileage/ higher intensity program like Hanson and have good results??