Mixed Emotions

Initially receiving the email made me smile, then I realized I was chewing on my nails as I was reading over the Final Prep email from the Rock-n-Roll marathon. It's like, here. I just read my first post after I took the plunge and began training, and I feel like a completely different person now. If you want to learn a few things about who you are, then I suggest training for something. You have no choice but to face some demons, if you're committed to your goal. The thing that stands out for me is that I haven't been training to run faster, but to slow down. How weird is that? What's more strange is in slowing down, I've become faster, and stronger. There is truth in the saying "don't sweat the small stuff". Though I did plenty of sweating anyway!

Time shouldn't be on my mind, but it is. When I first registered, without knowing how fast I could run 13.1 miles, I estimated my completion time at 3 hours. I can now say with confidence that it will not take me 3 hours to run this. Perhaps close, but I'm really shooting for a 12 min. mile average. All the training leads up to pushing it at the race, right? It's why I've been training for 4 months- to learn to pace myself so I can push through. I have to say I'm excited to see the results of all the work!

Another thing I was nervous about was the weather. I don't run early in the mornings, so I haven't dealt with really cold temps. Running with my sister and brother while in Massachusetts helped with that- 25 degrees! It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, and gave me a good idea of how to dress on race day. I doubt I will layer any clothes on at all. It might be chilly at the beginning, but by the end I'll be glad I don't have a jacket around my waist.

Speaking of running last week, being on vacation I didn't do any official training. I ran twice with my sister, and hurt my ankle a bit while running up a hill. Not used to hills AT ALL, apparently. It was a little sore the next day, but fine now. So, I'm considering that a tapering week, and will get one more 6-8 mile run in this weekend. Then next week some short runs/repeats, and then it's race day! WooHOO!

On a sad note, my training partner and dear friend Kimber cracked her heel a couple of weeks ago, and will not be running with me. She does promise to be waiting at the finish line- so I'm holding her to that! On a happier note, my brother is coming from SF to run it "with" me. That means he'll be waiting for me at the finish line too. Then we decided that Monti's for lunch was definitely in order to celebrate- so that is where our sweaty butts will be after!

I am now going to encase myself in bubble wrap for the next 11 days- no injuries! ;-)