I can hardly believe it’s really here. No, not 2012… but the week of my first marathon! I feel like I didn’t really expect it to actually happen when I signed up for it. Last marathon update was when I ran 23 miles, and I killed it. At least for me. I wrote how I was supposed to run my last long run the week before Christmas. I was building up the anticipation for it and when the alarm went off at 4:15 that saturday morning I knew something was off… I felt horrible. Couldn’t breathe through my nose, head throbbing. I had a sinus cold, ick. I still went through the motions of getting dressed, even got my waters filled up and was about to prepare my breakfast and realized it would be horrible to try to run in this condition… So I went back to bed. It took a few days for me to recover, but I never “made up” that run cause I didn’t think it’d be smart to do it 2 weeks before the actual race. So here’s to hoping that I trained enough up to that point *crosses fingers*
I did do my last significant run on Saturday, an easy pace for 6 miles. The good news is that it was in the 60’s here so I got to do it outside in gorgeous weather. Man, running on a treadmill pales in comparison to running outside. I felt alive again.
I finished the 6 miles and still felt awesome. Just what I needed to psych me up for the race. I also decided to take the old route I took on my first run outside the neighborhood. I remember doing those 7 miles and feeling like every step was miserable, and I could barely get to the finish. This was back in July. I finally feel like I came full circle, and it was a great feeling. When I started training I was averaging anywhere from 16-18 minute miles… Now I average 12-14 minutes, which is a huge improvement for me. I’m going to be happy to just finish the marathon, but I’m aiming for a 6 hour finish.
The good news is that not matter how the marathon ends for me I still have a full week with my family at Disney.
I’m so excited!
imperfectly courtney 