Thursday, October 4, 2007

Questions...

I've been asked a lot of questions lately. Most of them seem to be around one central theme:

"Are you ready?"

Am I? Good question. I've been thinking about it. Obviously, as noted below, there's nothing else I can do. Quantitatively, I've logged a heck of a lot of miles. To prepare for a marathon, the training program has you running two separate plans: Buildup and Marathon Training.

The Buildup portion consumed about 344 miles of my time. That was the running and cross-training totals I completed from January through May. And, as most of you know, I ran a Half-Marathon in April. So, I wasn't even ready to start the Marathon Training portion of this plan at that point. The hard part hadn't even arrived yet.

The Marathon Training program is brutal. It took place during the heat of the summer. Specifically, the heat of the DALLAS summer. While it was a milder summer than usual, I still had to endure heat and humidity. To fight the heat, we ran at 5:30 AM every Sunday morning. To reach that time, I had to wake up around 4:00 AM. Whew... glad those days are over!

This stretch of running took place from June and actually ends tonight (when I run my 4 miles). I logged almost 500 miles during this span. Unfortunately, that's about 100 or so miles less than what I should have run. Hmm...

The difficult part of the Marathon Training is time. It takes a lot of time to say, "Hey... I'm gonna go out and run 16... 17... 18 miles." When we ran our 21-miler a few weeks ago, it took us 3 hours 52 minutes. Think about how long that is: You could sit through about 2 movies!

I've also gone through 3 pairs of shoes, 3 iPods, about a hundred band-aids, 5 toenails, gallons of sweat, and of course... 1 bloody stump of a nipple (Hey, they grow back!) Even as we speak, I'm heading into the race with only 3 toenails on my right foot.

I've also been asked if I'm nervous. YES! I'm scared to death! I've never run in Chicago, I don't know what the course will be like, I'm hoping the 21 miles was enough to carry me into it, and I'm totally watching everything I'm eating and drinking right now "hoping to find an edge."

They say the night before the race is the most difficult to sleep. Well, this week has been rough. I keep thinking about it which prolongs the insomnia. I hope that I will have a fantastic run - one in which I look up and suddenly go, "Hey... we're over 20 miles and I feel great!" But if that doesn't happen, I've been given some awesome advice: Just adapt and make the best of it.

Nothing can be accomplished with worry. I can't make it better. I can't prepare any more. So why worry? Why focus on the negative. I need to focus on the positive! I've had an amazing year! I can't emphasize enough how much of a stress-breaker it is to run off your day! And to me, what started out as a way to lose weight has turned into a competitive thing of "I want to finish what I started." So, Sunday I will know.

Beyond the race, I'm looking forward to my vacation. I'm looking forward to being with my friends and sharing some good meals and beverages. I'm especially thankful to those that are making an extra effort: Specifically Chandra, who is flying up to cheer us on! Cara is also driving in from the suburbs of Chicago to hang and cheer, too! So overall, I'm excited... and thrilled... anxious!

So where am I? Am I ready? Am I nervous? Am I going to make it?

Ready or Not, Here I Come!!!

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