Day 80

Day 80! Even as I wrote it in the title, I was thinking, "Wow, really?" and found myself counting the days on my calendar. I can not believe how fast the past 80 days have gone. I'm no longer running for distance at this point in my training schedule. I'm running a set amount of time for each run this week and I only have one 20 minute run left, which I plan on completing tonight. It is really hard for me to comprehend the fact that after three months of training, this whole thing is almost over. I'm excited for my race on Sunday but I'm somewhat sad at the same time. It's a bittersweet feeling. I've worked so hard and moved so fast for this one day, this one experience. I know I can run more races and do this again, but first experiences are special. There are feelings of uncertainty, anxiety, fear and excitement that are never present, at least not in the same way, with second, third, or fiftieth experiences. I wish I could have somehow slowed the last three months down. I wish I could have found a way to better savor the moments, good and bad, challenging and easy, peaceful and distressing. It's going to be difficult for me to wind down for the next few weeks as my life slowly returns to normal.

I ran the Gazelle Sports Bridge Run on Sunday and did really well (for me at least). My official time was 29:17 which is about four minutes better than my race times last fall. It was nice to be around other runners and I was able to somewhat prepare for the racing environment. There were just over 1000 runners on Sunday and I'll be running with about 14,000 people next Sunday. I'm not sure the two environments can be appropriately compared. I can't wait to be at the starting line. It feels like I'm a kid waiting for Christmas. At this point, I am going to just sit back and enjoy the ride. No more worries, no more fears.

Day 73

I ran my longest training run of 12 miles last Saturday. It was challenging and I wasn't feeling 100% that day, but I completed my run on pace. When I finished my run, my body was feeling just how I expected it would....like I had just finished running 12 miles. I think I chugged a 20 ounce bottle of Gatorade in 1.3 seconds flat after I dragged myself to the refrigerator by my fingernails from the front entry where I involuntarily collapsed after walking into the house. Okay, I'm exaggerating a little, but I was in pain. I seriously did have to use the handrail to safely make it upstairs. I spent the next 30 minutes (at least) in an ice cold shower. It felt wonderful. Advil was my best friend Saturday night.

This will sound crazy after what I just wrote, but after last Saturday I'm really excited for my race. Even after all the pain I dealt with Saturday, and for the previous three months for that matter, I know I can do it! I mean come on, if I can run 12 miles, what's another 1.1 miles? The race is less than two weeks away now and I get butterflies in my stomach every time I think about it or someone asks me about it. I'm starting to build my travel list and I'm strategically planning laundry days so my favorite running clothes are clean for the trip.

Over the past three months I've learned a lot. Not just about what I'm personally capable of, but also about the science behind running, the importance of "fuel" and Gatorade, how to avoid chaffing (which by the way is no joke - it's downright painful), how to deal with blisters, tight muscles, stiffness, how to run with a cold, what clothes are best for what weather conditions, and a slew of other things I can't think of right now. I'm sure I'll be digressing for a while after the race is done. For now, I have a little more training to do before I can stop to look back at everything I've accomplished and learned this summer.

Day 68

I didn't realize it had been almost two weeks since I'd blogged until today when my mom asked me how running was going. I've been so incredibly busy with life that blogging just hasn't been a priority. My grandparents visited last weekend, my best friend will have a baby any day now, my cat had surgery this week and work has been busier this week than it has been in the past three months. I'm drained. However, I still think my blog is an important part of this experience so tonight I'm carving out some time to digress.

I've run two eight mile and two ten mile training runs in the past month. I can't believe how far I've come in just two and a half months of training. I'll run my longest training run of 12 miles tomorrow. In fact I just finished mapping out my course on one of my favorite websites, www.mapmyrun.com. All of my training runs are archived on the site so it will be another neat way to look back on what I've been able to accomplish during this experience.

It's hard to believe my half marathon is only 2 weeks from this Sunday. I signed up for a 5k on September 20th so I can prepare for the racing experience. I'm really looking forward to it. It will be a good way to mentally prepare for the race on the 27th. Although, I know racing with a few hundred people on the 20th will be a totally different feeling than racing with 14,000 people in the half marathon.

I've already starting thinking about what my goals will be after the race. I've focused on my goal of finishing a half marathon for so many weeks that I have a feeling it will be hard for me to not have something to work toward anymore. I know I want to keep running after this is done, maybe I'll run another half marathon, maybe I'll just stick to 10k races for a while. We'll see.