The Countdown Begins

I am less than two weeks away from running the Marine Corps Marathon. I am counting down the days - this may not sound encouraging, but I just can't wait until the race is over! The past 2 months of training has been less than ideal and I have wanted to give up on many occasions. I even had my first marathon nightmare the other night where I didn't finish the race. I suppose that's my biggest fear about this race - that I'm not going to finish and all of this work will have been for nothing.

My 20 mile long run 2 weeks ago was less than encouraging. The weather was cold and rainy, my training partner was sick, and the idea of 20 miles scared the crap out of me. I described it as miserable to those I spoke to about it. Every muscle in my legs and feet hurt and it was (still is) hard for me to see how I'm going to go the full distance. After the 20 miles, I'm not sure I could have gone another 6.2.

Yesterday we ran what's hopefully our last significant long run - 16 miles. My training partner had originally wanted to try the 2o again - she wanted to have a good experience under our belts rather than the misery we felt when we did it last. And, even though I KNOW that's too long of a distance this close to the race, I was all in. I was prepared to go the 20 miles - run, walk, or crawl.

Well, 20 miles didn't happen and I'm more than okay with that. The 16 miles that I did run more than made up for it. Overall the run was good (as good as it could be), but it also made me realize something that almost scares me as much as not finishing the race - I will probably end up running a majority of this race solo. Alone. With just me and my thoughts. My training partner is naturally faster than I am and I will not be able to keep up with her for the entire distance. That was made clear yesterday. Guess it's time to start creating the marathon playlist, because I'm going to need it!

There are days when I want to give up and days when I just want to get it over with. I'm tired of thinking about the marathon, talking about it, and training for it. I can't wait until I have more free time again, can sleep in again. I'm already thinking of my post marathon fitness plans, and they will include lots of yoga and more strength training - both things I haven't been able to fit in regularly over the past 8 months.

However, in 13 days, I plan to call myself a marathoner.