It’s almost here!
Tomorrow I’m taking a train out to Long Island to meet my friend Sarah for the race expo. It hasn’t quite hit me yet but I’m sure once I see Sarah and pick up my bib it will all hit me– I’m running my first half marathon!
Ever since my 10 miler last weekend I’ve been feeling confident. I stopped saying I’m attempting to run a half marathon and started saying I am running a half marathon on Sunday. Obviously anything can happen, but at this exact moment I’m feeling good knowing I put in the training, took care of my body, and have the endurance to run 13.1 miles.
All smiles after 10 miles
There were quite a few moments when I wanted to quit, I wanted to give up on training and go back to my usual workouts instead of focusing so much on running. In the summer the last thing I wanted to do was spend time alone, running and finding motivation from within me. There’s a reason why I love group fitness and it’s because someone else is telling you “YOU’RE A ROCK STAR”. But eventually I quit being so hard on myself every time I ran a super slow mile and every time I took a walking break. The weather became cooler and the miles became easier. Come fall my life became consumed with school and running finally started to feel good. After spending 6 (!) hours on chemistry homework last night I fell asleep so excited to shake off the anxiety from chemistry and go for an early morning run.
I’ve been asked a lot why bother training for a race like this when I don’t even like running all that much. To be honest, I wanted to prove to myself that I could. For that 17 year old girl who couldn’t run the mile in high school. To that girl who always got picked last in gym. To the girl who spent her whole life feeling un-athletic. On Sunday I will be running 13.1 miles for that girl I used to be. Because it’s something I wasn’t able to do 1 year ago, 6 months ago… heck 1 month ago, but on Sunday I will be able to run 13.1 miles.
And now, it’s time to relax because the hard work is over. I enjoyed some carbs all day long (what, I’m carb loading, right?), I tweaked my playlist to make sure my favorite songs come on when I’ll need it most (gotta have some Green Day during mile 12, right?), my race outfit is washed and ready to go, I bought a throwaway sweatshirt from k-mart, I’ve been compulsively checked the weather for East Meadow, Long Island and I’m almost all packed and ready to go.
Whatever happens, happens. I don’t care how fast I run, or even if I take a million walking breaks. I just care about crossing that finish line.
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