It's becoming REAL!!!

So I received an email this morning from the Shires of Vermont marathon crew asking all participants whether or not they've secured their lodging accommodations yet.  While I'm not planning to stay there overnight given that it's a relatively short drive, my stomach turned a little bit because this race is now becoming very REAL!

Before it was easy to distance myself from it because it seemed so far away -- it's 5 months away...still got 4 months...etc.  But now I'm only 3 months off -- that's only 13 weeks left to train.  Yesterday's run was a challenging 12 miles, but I completed it without stopping.  The mental hurdles are becoming more of a challenge than the physical ones.  I really need to focus now for the second half of my training plan and, more importantly, my nutrition, which has still been a touch and go process.

90% of the time I've been eating very well -- small, clean meals spaced about 2-3 hours apart and fueling appropriately before and after my runs -- but after these long runs I become RAVENOUS!  I tear through the house and gobble down crackers, peanut butter sandwiches, whole grain pasta, nuts, protein bars -- anything I can find.  And I know I don't need that many calories!  So I need to develop a better, consistent fueling strategy on my long run days so I don't turn into the Tasmanian Devil afterward.

Yesterday I ate my breakfast of a bowl of steel cut oats, a banana, and a cup of soy milk, did my run (during which I sipped diluted Gatorade from my Camelback pack -- which I acknowledged was not enough carbs), drank down a glass of chocolate soy milk immediately when I got home, and then followed that up with soup and a sandwich about an hour later.  And I still ransacked the cupboards that night!  So now that I know what to expect on these days, I can plan appropriately.  Maybe I will add an extra meal that day so that mentally I know I have one more feeding and won't be tempted to shove whatever I find into my face.

Have any other runners out there experienced this and have any tips I can use?  I really want to lean out as best I can before the marathon to shed unnecessary weight (and in so doing becoming faster!), and this hurdle keeps slowing my progress.

In the meantime, I'll keep plugging away.  Three miles today!