Preparing for Plitvice (Croatia)

As I sit here drinking my karlovacko pivo (beer) I have some thoughts regarding my next marathon.  We arrived here in Bosnia Sunday after a little bit of an arduous journey due to traveling with 2 young kids and maybe 1 or 2 too many complimentary wines from my good friends British Airways ;-).  Oh well I had a nice first flight.  Anyway I always love coming here.  All of Emir's family is here except for his brother who lives in NYC and we have many friends here.  Plus it's so beautiful here.  Not only are there cute little European cities such as Bihac which is where my husband grew up and we usually stay when we are here but there are gorgeous mountains surrounding the cities that take you to another world.  Emirs family has a beautiful house in the mountains just outside Bihac so we get the best of both worlds.  The other piece is the culture.  I love the people, the food, the drinks and lifestyle.  It's just so relaxing and beautiful.

Anyway 2 years ago when we were planning our annual trip here I found via Internet the Plitvice Marathon.  It takes place in the gorgeous Plitvice National Park which is only about 30 minutes by car from Bihac.  As you may or may not remember that is the first ever marathon I ran.  Not that anyone's first marathon is easy but Plitvice is pretty challenging with significant elevations.  I was more than happy with my 4:30 plus the course is just absolutely stunning. 

So now here I sit just 5 days from running Plitvice again.  I have very mixed emotions.  I'm very excited just because I love running marathons and I love Plitvice.  But this is the first time I am repeating a race.  I feel like if I don't improve my time, I will be disappointed. Last week I was feeling terrible during runs.  Tired, stomach problems (yes I pooped in the woods twice!) and cramps.  It was humid but still.  Then today Emir and I ran here up in the mountains and I felt great and we had a great pace.  It's hard to remember exactly how Plitvice compared to other marathons we have run.  I know it's harder than Philly and OD but is it as hard as Blue Ridge?  Is it reasonable to think ill beat 4:30 since that's what we did at Blue Ridge.  I really don't know.  Emir didn't run the full marathon at Plitvice with me so this is his first time.  I know it's only me putting pressure on but I can't help but feel nervous.  I guess the only thing to do is relax ( we are here on vacation) and carb up with pivo! ;-).