And here we are, the day before the London Marathon.

Here are some highlights from the last day and prep for tomorrow’s race.

I walked to Whole Foods yesterday (yes, Whole Foods in London, I’m a sucker) to buy bagels and peanut butter for race morning and saw street performers in Piccadilly Circus.

I later walked to meet Josh for dinner at Great Queen Street Restaurant in Convent Garden. It was so yummy and had such great service. I ordered a beef stew type dish and Josh the Roast Cod and Janssen’s Temptation. I ate a lot of bread (carb loading) and we ordered the yoghurt pudding and wild strawberries for dessert. All yum! I don’t remember the name of my stew and I can’t look it up on the menu any more because it changes each day! Usually when I order beef at restaurants and Josh orders the fish, the waiter gives me the fish and him the beef. (P.S. that bothers me… why can’t the girl eat beef?) This restaurant was one of the first to not do that. Thank you, Great Queen Street Restaurant for not following stereotypes.

We walked the mile or so back to our hotel and zig-zagged through Chinatown. Chinatown London is right by Piccadilly Circus, which according to my friend, Lizzie who spent a bit of time living and working in London, is the NYC-equivalent of Times Square. When I last visited London, Lizzie described the city to me in the form of NYC neighborhood analogies. Anyway, Chinatown in London is by Times Square, not downtown.

This morning, James and I made our way out for a short shakeout run. The roads around The Mall and Buckingham Palace were closed off starting this morning at 6AM until Monday at 6AM which made for a very scenic run. We ran around Green Park, Buckingham Palace, The Mall (marathon finish area), and St. James Park. Josh was also out taking pictures and we caught the start of the changing of the guards too.

After the run, we wandered around Green Park on the way to find breakfast. James showed us the awesome cherry blossom tree (I think) in the park. I walked underneath of it and felt like I was in the movies.

The rest of the day was spent preparing for the marathon – figuring out what time we need to leave the hotel , viewing areas for Josh, downloading the Big Sur International Marathon app so I can track Julio after our race, getting my gear in order, and eating a lot of carbs.

And now it’s time to get ready for bed! I’m running my first international race in the morning!