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Pre-Marathon Week

How I thought my week would play out:
  • Spending time with my already-born niece
  • Getting ahead on work and school before my "vacation"
  • Finishing up training with a few short and easy runs
  • Taking extra care of my body with stretching, rolling, and relaxation
  • Mentally preparing with messages of affirmation to myself

 How my week has played out:
  • Anxiously awaiting the late birth of my niece, fearing she might not arrive before I left for Scranton
    • Trying to be there for my older niece while my sister and brother-in-law prepared for their new baby, which inevitably meant
  • Neglecting work and school and deciding to postpone my grad school application purely out of stress and anxiety
  • Dreading my last few runs, which were a mixed bag of slow, a little less slow, and draining
  • Getting too little sleep because my niece decided to arrive in the wee hours of the morning, mid-week, which meant taking care of the older niece during the labor and delivery (which I absolutely do not regret)
  • Perpetuating negative thoughts about my ability to cope in life
But also, this happened:

Sweet new baby love!

I got (mostly) caught up on my work and figured out how to submit a school assignment from Scranton  on time (yay), and I got to hear the words of a very special woman in my life, whose wisdom should be sewn into a warm and comforting blanket to wrap around me on my bad days: "Look for the solutions." More specifically, when things start to spin out of control, rather than get overwhelmed by how little control I have over the masses of things happening around me or to me, find something I can fix--just one thing, and start from there. Make it an upward spiral instead of a downward one.

Now It's Time
So tomorrow I leave for Scranton, PA, to run my second marathon. Overall, I'm feeling good. Nothing is broken/sprained/strained, I know I put in plenty of hard training, and I need to rely on that when I'm having any moments of doubt. I have just one more long, fast "training" run to complete on Sunday, and I can call this journey a success. I cringe to put this in writing, but I'm going to go ahead and say that I want a 4:15 finishing time. That's four hours, 15 minutes. The weather will be nice and cool--in the 50s and low 60s. I did a few hill training runs and feel I conquered them well. I've got a fourth niece to keep in mind when I need the motivation to push myself; all four of them help me through my races, even if they'll never know it. I know I'll have a small but mighty support system back home. I feel pretty lucky to be running this race. I can't wait to tell you all about how it went.


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shirley said…
I love keeping up with you through your blog. I don't run, but I get it. I know what you go through to get a "good run" whether you're just running, training or competing. I admire your tenacity and am completely proud of you. Congratulations on being an Auntie, yet again. I know you will run well and look forward to your next post.
Love you ~
October 11, 2013 at 2:33 PM
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