One Foot in Front of the Other

As the days are flying by to Saturday I’m REALLY getting excited for it to get here!

I started my packing pile this weekend and will finish completely packing tonight! We’re leaving right after work tomorrow and I don’t want to be rushed and accidentally forget something.

I know I haven’t actually run the race yet, but I’m so excited for the challenge ahead of me. Training in itself was a challenge and I got through that, so I’m excited to see what the new challenge I face will be like.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions: Why do you get so excited to run? Why do you run so far? Don’t you get bored? You’re might get hurt.

The way I see it, there are parts of life as an adult (generally speaking) you just don’t get to experience all the time.

Sometimes there’s not much excitement. I’m all about having a routine but sometimes it just gets mundane.

Sometimes there are no surprises, no good ones at least. “Oh the car needs fixed again..”

Sometimes you’re so stuck in a rut you forget what you’re capable of doing. “I have these responsibilities and I have no time for anything else.”

Some people combat this by finding a new job, traveling to new places, learning a new hobby, adopting a puppy, having a baby..but for now, I run.

Nerd alert: In college, I kind of liked exams because it was a challenge to me. I studied and went to class, did homework and then took a test to see what I knew. It’s probably bad but, it was almost as if I was seeing “how good I was” at that topic.

In running, I now like races to “see what I know.” I do core exercises, focus on fueling, read articles on various running topics, follow my running schedule, then race and see how well I do. I know there’s only a certain amount I can keep improving, but as long as I’m doing something I’m content. That’s enough to keep me confident, keep me excited, and always shooting for a goal. If I’m doing nothing, I’m definitely not improving so that’s not going to help anything.

Sometimes I know I set my goals pretty high. What’s that cheesy line? “Shoot for the moon, if you miss you’ll land upon the stars.” Yeah.. that’s my relationship with running. Don’t get me wrong, I’m zealous but not over-zealous. I don’t want to end up on the injured list. I think that would be pretty horrible. But that’s another post..

Anyway, here’s to setting goals and achieving them.

Here’s to putting your mind to something you thought you would never do.

Here’s to starting AND finishing.

Here’s to believing you can do it. Don’t mind anyone else.

Here’s to you.

Marathon Thoughts

Exactly one month from today. I will be toeing the starting line at 7:30am to run a marathon.

I have a lot of different feelings about this.

#1 I want to have fun. This is a no brainer for me. I was so excited before my first half marathon I had trouble sleeping the night before. Not from nerves, just excitement. It was probably the most excited I had felt since my wedding or when a I was a little girl at Christmas.

#2 Will I be able to fuel properly. This is a worry of mine mainly because I really don’t like gels that much. As much as I’ve used them and found one I can tolerate, I still have to gag it down. As long as I get it down 3-4 times throughout the race, I should be fine.

#3 Aid Stations They’re awkward. I really hate stopping at them. While I don’t actually stop, I hate slowing down to run in, grabbing a drink, gulping it down, and getting back to pace all while not getting tangled up in other runners legs. Just give me an IV.

#4 Peeing in my pants. How often are they going to have port-a-potty’s? Are the lines going to be atrocious?  To be determined..

#5 Always question if I’ve done enough. I’ve been traveling A LOT this fall. I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t messed with my training plan. I’ve missed several weekday runs over the course of 18 weeks; I’ve had to run while not fully recovered. Despite all this I have made it a point to never skip a long run, so doing that will hopefully provide me the physical benefits and psychological strength to know I can do this.

#6 Mile 21-26.2 My longest training run is 20 miles on October 15. I will have no idea how my body will respond or feel for the next 6.2 miles. At that point, it’s going to be mind over matter and focusing on one foot in front of the other. As long as I’ve fueled properly, “hitting the wall” shouldn’t happen. (Which is known for happening around mile 20.)

#7 Clothes Still working on putting that outfit together. Normal temps in Savannah for that time of year is a high of 70. However, this will be at 7:30 am and I will probably be up at 4:30am to get to the starting line in time. I don’t want to freeze before the gun goes off, but I also don’t want to be too hot running. I may bring some old clothes I don’t care about and ditch them once the race starts.

#8 People There are 23,000 participants in this race! Between the half marathon and the full marathon, this event has sold out. That makes for a lot of traffic before, during, and after the race. I’ll be practicing a lot of patience that day.

#9 Success I’m a pretty confident person. In who I am and my abilities. I can’t wait to check this off my list!

Can you tell my Type A personality is taking over here?

I listed #1 as having fun for a reason. While there are definitely logistics that go into running a marathon beyond the 18 weeks of training prior; my main goal is to have fun doing what I love to do. RUNNING!

This particular marathon is part of the Rock ‘N Roll Series which is the #1 race series in America. They have a live band playing at each mile and a headliner band at the end. I think having fun will be inevitable that day. 🙂

I have the rest of this week and next week left of full-on training, then a 3 week taper. I can’t believe we’re already here!