First Road Marathon: A Little Freaked Out

OK, so on Saturday I do my very first road marathon. I've done the Bataan Memorial Death March but it was literally how I approached it...as a march on dirt/rock/sand trails, no running. This race The M.A.D. Marathon starts out at nearly 5,200 feet in elevation and according to what I saw on the elevation map was mostly downhill with only one big hill climb. So yesterday the hubs and I went and drove the course and I wanted to cry...literally. I don't like hills and it was like the first 7-8 miles are constant rolling hills and 3 (yes, three) huge hill climbs. They aren't little, low laying hills they are steep! If I did the math right the biggest and steepest hill is a 55% grade..yes, 55%. I have a 60 foot difference in elevation over 109 feet.

        60/109 = 0.5504 x 100 = 55.04%

Joy.

I had recorded the first half of the course after which the course is pretty much flat. Aside from my current, but quiet, internal (occasional external) freak out my plan is to start slow and finish slower. I sure as heck am not running all the way up the hills but I'll try to run up as far as possible. Remember, I'm a flat lander we have very few hills where I live. Am I panicking for nothing or am I right to be a little freaked? Either way, I won't quit and will crawl (and cry) if I have to...because this will be the beginning of my quest to join the Marathon Maniacs. So I was going to post the video but it's too long to post on YouTube and I don't know where else to post it. So, instead, here's the elevation chart. I don't know why I focused only on the downhill and totally disregarded the uphills. Well, wish me luck and confidence please...Saturday is coming way too soon!