JTG: Marathon Myths and Fairytales







Miles 857



I have completed all of the training for my 7th full marathon.  I am ready. Right…..?  MAYBE.  I should be ready.  The work behind me, now all that remains is showing up…. toeing the start line and moving forward. Right…. KINDA……Running 26.2 miles is scary as hell.  No question about it.  Undertaking the marathon feat, no matter how trained or experienced you are…. is still…. a monumental task. It is mental, it is physical, it is spiritual.  It takes experience, training and courage. and maybe a fairy godmother…..

The experience….. means nothing really…. if you have done 1 or 100…. so much is weighing in on race day….. how you feel…. your mental state…….which will drive your body through this race….. and you never know if you are going to show up as a Venom GT with the skill of A.J. Foyt or a Honda Civic with the hesitation and absent mindedness of a divers ed student…… just because you have done it before…. means nothing.  Except, maybe, that somewhere in the back of your mind….. you know how beautifully difficult and impossible the task ahead of you is…… you kind of remember…. but its fuzzy….. like child birth!  You remember the good and yet you really can't recollect how it happened in that delivery room…. it was hard…. but…. hmmmm… I can't recall…..

The training….. ok I will give a little here… if you haven't done your long runs and taper…. followed a plan, stuck with it… you're screwed.  No question about it.  I can not tell you how many people i have talked with who let the training get away from them…. thinking oh I did a 10… and an 18…. I didn't have time…. it will be fine…. I can pull through….. THIS is so WRONG I can't even begin to explain how this will never ever come even close to working out.  For anyone.  To run a marathon, you must respect the training.  For your body and mind to be able to handle the task of 26.2… you not only have to…... believe you can, have developed physical and mental stamina….. but you must also experience breaking… again and again and again….. so when those weird things happen along the course…. you don't just "know" you can over come them…. you already have over come them and you are 100% trained to keep going…. because you are already so broken that you can run through point brake…… without any hesitation…. Training develops your body and more importantly your mind….

The courage….. means everything…. the fact that one day you randomly sit down and say…. I think I will run a marathon…. and then you set out to train your mind and body to do so….. that takes more courage than most people will ever know…….to actually under take a marathon training program… you let go of fear and doubt and you just believe…."I can do this".  That is what it is really about…… And when you toe up to that start line…. number in place…. freezing in the early morning race day cold….. all of the work behind you…. you have, at that moment,  done what most people, in their life time, have never even attempted….. and all you have left to do is 26.2.

So….. all that being said….. I am ready…. right….?  I don't know.  You see, as distance runners, we all understand 1 thing….. and that is, nothing is ever predictable in 26.2…. it is a long journey….. in which you hope to cover the spread and cover it well….. You hope it's not raining, sleeting, snowing…. you hope that random unseen injury doesn't occur….. you hope you wake up that morning with the strength and mind set of a cheetah….. and if you don't….. the good thing is….. you fall back on your training….. and because of that…. you pull through….

I have been so lucky to run with amazing people this time around…. for so long, running had become about pressure and time goals and failure and disappointment….. The manager of my favorite running store told me …."When you start to have fun…. you will meet your goals" I looked so hard for the fun…… but my competitive perfectionist fear of failure self…. wouldn't let me find it….. and I guess it took an injury and a break and some fantastic people to make me realize how much FUN running is….. I am not trying to overcome, run away, run towards, get my fix…. I am simply just doing something I love.  Is it hard…. YEP!  sometimes it is unbearably hard.  But if you think of all you truly love in life….. you realize….. everything takes work, effort, dedication….. everything has it's hard moments….. everything worth having, at times, requires work….. and you do the work…. because it's worth the return…… remember that saying nothing worth having is ever easy…….


And sometimes…. we get lucky….. sometimes…. we don't even notice the work… because we are having so much fun doing it….. and one day we wake up and realize….. wow….. I CAN do this…. and it is such a beautiful thing to believe in yourself…. even if that belief waivers between Yes I can… and OMFG no way!




This is the first time I am not completely panicked about what I am going to do Oct 11th. And I am not sure if that is good or bad…. I am sure that it is….. different…. I am excited to run…. to be a part of such a great event…. to see what my body can do….. to have fun doing what I love….. I am excited about a happy ending….. and I am even more excited about what comes next. There may never be a glass slipper….. but there is without a doubt… going to be a ball.


Marathon Week:
Patience from all of my family and friends PLEASE…. I may be more erratic this week!
Rest
Hydrate
EAT everything that isn't dairy….. carb load
SLEEP



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