 |
| Race shirt, Race shoes, Race packet. Let’s do this. |
I got a text from Heidi (marathon buddy/BFF) yesterday morning about 8:50 and this is what it said:
“In 7 days you’ll be about 10 minutes into your first marathon!”
I promptly got a stomach ache and couldn’t swallow the right way?? So that was weird but also totally normal and appropriate. This is it, the last 6 days of a year long journey. How strange to think that it was a year ago that I figured “I’ve got a year to train, that’s like forever”. Well it’s really not and this year has flown by.
The last few weeks haven’t been ideal honestly. After a pitiful 20 miler that ended earlier than I planned due to heat and some severe foot pain, I was disappointed and angry. I wasn’t feeling confident and I was truly unsure of my ability to do this. After the 20 miler, training starts to taper; the miles get shorter the closer you get to the marathon. I did my week day runs and was starting to feel better, feeling strong and planning for a great few taper weeks. Then, of course, I get laid up for 4 days with a severe upper respiratory infection. I miss a Saturday long run and my week day runs are tough and now here we are, 1 week out, and I’m feeling a mix of emotions that I can liken only to the upcoming birth of a baby….so very intense.
So what am I doing this week? Well I’m hydrating. I’m drinking water to the point that I’m actually wondering if it would just be more efficient for me to wear a diaper during the day, #mombladder. I have 3 short runs this week; 3 miles, 4 miles and 2 miles. Then we rest Friday and Saturday. I’m eating super clean, staying away as best I can from too much white sugar, anything fried and anything really high in fat. Pretty much everything I THOUGHT I’d be doing that last 4 months but ya know, life. I’m trying to do some yoga and stretching daily, sleep as much as I can, go over my day-of checklist 6 dozen times and try to relax. The last one I’m doing a terrible job of.
Here’s a comprehensive list of all the emotions that immediately flood my body the second I think about the marathon:
– Excitment
– Anxiety
– Fear
– Joy
– Depression
– Exhiliration
– Terror
– Pride
– Nausea (can this also be an emotion?)
– Panic
– Unbridled determination
And not in that particular order, more in a huge mashup mess that I have to stop and breathe through.
At this point, I can do no more than I have but I also can’t erase what I’ve done. I’ve trained, I’ve put in the time, I’ve logged the miles, I’ve come so far in the year since I made the decision to start running and that can’t be taken away. Whether I finish this marathon with a fabulous time and feeling like a million bucks or crawl across the finish line some time Monday morning, I will have done it.
Stay tuned…
