T minus 36 hours until Steamtown, tonight has been all about getting ready for a three hour road trip to Scranton, PA tomorrow and then a 26.2 mile race on Sunday.

I’m definitely excited to run this marathon, but I ain’t gonna lie – I’m plenty nervous too, mostly about my knee. I’ve been stretching my IT Band like Gumby on an organic taffy pulling machine and am pleased to report I’m currently pain free – but still.

I mean, that’s sounds like good news, right? I thought so too, but then I started listening to the horror stories my friend Google tells me when I search for “running a marathon with ITBS”.

Oh, Google… we go way back. Two pregnancies, two infants, one finger felon… what would I do without you? You’re always there for me when I need something to worry about.

I must also say though that for every scary story I read, there were plenty of stories about people who took it easy on race day with their trick knee and did just fine. Not fast mind you, but fine. And that’s fine. Slow is fine. I can do slow! No problem. Just please behave yourself, Knee. I’ll take plenty of walk breaks, you promise not to act up and we’ll all be fine. Fine fine fine.

Fine.

Anyways. I tried to take my mind off any last minute pre-marathon woes tonight with some food prep.

Cutting up two pounds of Brussels sprouts comforts me. Huge sweet potatoes do too.

A sweet potato built for two and enough Brussels sprouts for dinner tonight plus extra for Zak this weekend (who will be holding down the fort here with the kiddos) and for road trip lunch for me tomorrow.

Once dinner was underway I got started on some race day nutrition a la Brendan Brazier and Thrive.

My usual version of Direct Fuel Bites made with medjool dates, coconut oil, cocoa powder and dulse – processed into a big brown blob, chia seeds stirred in at the end.

Brown blob flattened into a brown pancake between layers of plastic wrap, popped into the freezer to harden to be cut into bite sized pieces tomorrow morning before I go.

Some salad fixings were also prepped for a pre-race dinner tomorrow night and more nearly-ready-to-go meal components for dad this weekend too.

And finally, an easy Marathon Eve Eve dinner I could count on to be delicious. I owed us after the Frozen Spinach in a Crock Pot Disaster of 2011 from last night.

Morning Star Black Bean Burger on an Ezekiel roll topped mustard, pickle, lettuce and a couple slices of pepper jack cheese, plus a 1/3 of the giant sweet potato and a shovel of roasted Brussles sprouts.

Plus some Annie’s BBQ sauce on the side for veggie dipping.

Now we’re talkin’.

Any marathon veteran will tell you to do your best to get a good nights sleep two nights before the race (or any distance you might be nervous about). You’re likely to toss and turn and not sleep very well the night before your event, so tonight’s the night to sleep like a rock!

I think that’s my cue to make a security blanket from Brussels sprouts and then hit the sweet potato sack.