So it’s just four days before the big race: The Bluenose Marathon. I’m going to be running the 10k portion of the Bluenose ( throughout Halifax and Dartmouth) and I have been “in training" for the past four months.

And that is seriously strange for me. Just more than a year ago I wouldn’t have bet a nickel I was ever going to run in a 10k race let alone be planning to run two more this summer, and later in the year start training for a half-marathon in the Bluenose 2010.

Now I’ve reached a stage where if I don’t run or if I’m not in the gym on any given day I start to get antsy. It began by starting to feel guilty but now I just feel weird–when can I get to the gym or out on the street–and that’s a huge change in my physiology.

However, after a run or a workout, I feel so good. Everything is possible!

And here are a couple of oddities that happen to me when I’m running and when I’m in the gym doing strength training:

Running: As I near the end of the run, I crave cereal, whole wheat toast, oranges, water (of course) and I look forward to resting and perhaps reading a book.

Strength Training: When I am finishing my 60-90 minute workout I crave beef–cooked or otherwise! (I also think about martinis, if it’s a late-day workout, and only on special occasions. This is the new me, after all.) If it’s a morning workout, I can’t wait to get to the office and get active…but I still crave beef.

I have two running sessions before the race Sunday morning and twice more in the gym.

My main running man, Luke MacDonald of Aerobics First, tells me that Race Day is a celebration of all the hard work you have put into the training. What a great way to look at it.

I’m going to work hard for the next couple days and then do some serious celebrating, starting at 9:20am on Sunday, May 17–my first Bluenose.

However, after this particular run, there will be martinis and beef.