Game Time!

Ok so today I was feeling super guilty which was actually a motivation since in the am I was dreading the run I had planned for the day. I took yesterday off since I am trying to not over strain myself even though every ounce of me wanted to run! The sun was out and shining. Low and behold the sun hides and the rain comes when I do run.... I am only running every other day and no more then a 9.4K route which includes some whopper hills. (I might do speed work on the off days... but only like 2K its still to be determined.) Mentally I am so ready for this race! Like I posted before I feel myself getting better and stronger. I started thinking about how I will start my race day such as what foods I want to eat and when. I already know that personally I cant eat starting 2 hours before the race, my stomach is a slow digester and it makes running miserable. I have started to time my eating (before the runs) and 2 hours is perfect if its a light meal. I am thinking beagle, peanut butter and a banana with coffee obviously... lots of it! I think I will sip on a Gatorade about 45 minutes before the race as well since I have tried that and it seems to settle fine in my stomach. Here are some photos from today's run. I actually got lost, like literally lost up on the hills of Istanbul looking for my street. My great navigational skills told me I was going the right way but all of sudden the streets were unfamiliar and rather then downhill like they should have been by that point it was flat and parallel to the Bosphorus... I needed downhill perpendicular to Bosphorus.... One thing that really amazes me as how much more I know about the bus stops in this place then the people who actually live here. I asked like a dozen people "Which way to Istinye Dereici bus stop" in Turkish and everyone had this look of "WTF" on their faces. Maybe they just didn't want to tell me but I highly doubt all of them are that mean. These are just poor people walking around with nothing better to do. Regardless I figured it out and being on top of the hill made for great photos!!! 

 This photo is the starting point for the Eurasia Marathon, it runs from the Asian side to the European side. It a great milage marker!

This can be a drinking fountain, I don't think I will try it out though.

Dunno what this building is but I'd love to live here....

Same Building just the other side....remember I am running while I take all these photos... not stopping!

This photo is the reason I got lost, I had to get a good view of the chicken in the backyard of the apt building complex so I turned around and ran by it again and again.

Point where I realized I was lost, My house is down there somewhere and I should have ended up a lot closer then this... Off to the right is the industrial/business district with all the skyscrapers.

Still too high up to see my house....

Oh there is my house.... the shortest pink apartment building.. and I am still like a mile away, I need to go down the hill I am on and then up the hill the apts are on. gees....

Well that's it for now...