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Saturday, May 25, 2013

Marathon Thoughts

Well well well.... the day has finally come.  Marathon eve.  In 18 hours, I will be toeing the start line, ready to run 26.2 miles through the streets of Buffalo.  You must be wondering where I have been the past two months - where are all the pictures of my Garmin showing off training runs?  Where are the pictures of the food I've been stuffing my face with after a run?  AM I STILL EVEN RUNNING A MARATHON?!

Truth is, training has been anything but smooth the past couple of months.  This thing called life got in the way, I've been dealing with some health issues, and honestly.... I lost my spark to run.  I managed to knock out some 15+ mile runs and even a 20 miler, but beyond that my training calendar is pretty sad looking.

Looking back, I'm not even sure I was ready and excited to commit to a marathon this year.  After a year of running half marathons, I just figured that a marathon, NOW, was the next logical step.  Some friends had committed, so I thought sure, let's do this.  Don't get me wrong... running a marathon is definitely something I was excited to do... but I feel like I decided to do it by default.

I went back and calculated my planned miles vs. actual miles and realized that I've only ran 60% of my planned miles.  I knew I had skipped some runs, and was sidelined for a while with my health issues, but at the end of the day... you either ran or you didn't.  You either suck it up and go, or you let the excuses take over.  The fact that I let everything going on dictate my training... well there's your answer to how committed I was.

Am I excited for tomorrow?  Yes.  Do I feel prepared?  Absolutely not.  Would I change anything about the past 5 months?  Ehh, probably not.  Yes, life was a roller coaster, and no, my training did not go as planned... but I've definitely learned a lot of things along the way.  About myself, about others, and about life.

So, ready or not, come 7:00am tomorrow morning, I will be putting myself to the ultimate physical and mental test yet.  And I will give it all I've got.  This race is not only for myself, but for everyone who has helped and supported me along the way (you know who you are!).  Crossing the finish line tomorrow... I cannot wait for that feeling.

Here goes nothin'!