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Sunday, March 8, 2009

closing in

T minus 13 days and counting.

I've finished all my long runs and now begins the tapering period. (Imagine freaking-out noises here). I actually bought the Rome portion of my trip, meaning there's no backing out now. As a way to soothe my anxiety-ridden soul, I'd like to dedicate this post to all the words of advice I've so far gathered along my way about the big day and what to expect:

1. You've put in all the work, and now just trust your coaches. This great piece of advice was given to me by a fellow Rome runner and cancer survivor. He's always at practice, always smiling, and he's completed countless triathlons and marathons since beating cancer a while back. He seems to know what he's talking about, so I'm going to take his word on this one.

2. Don't let any negative thoughts enter your mind. This one was given to me by my friend Weatherly, who's run two marathons so far, NYC and Chicago. She's one of those people who makes training seem easy. She's completely dedicated and disciplined and she embodies the "just do it," thing I mentioned earlier.

3. You can always run double your longest run. Not sure who said this, actually. Maybe it's a training urban legend. I'd like to believe it's true, and think it must go back to the days when hunter-gatherers would find themselves far away from home, and in order to survive, they had to be able to run the same distance back that they ran out. Who knows, but if the logic is true, then right now I can run 18, so I can really run 36?! That must mean 26.6 is no probs, right.

4. You're going to hit the wall at 18, then start bargaining with yourself about stopping when you reach the 20s. This one came from my friend Jess, who also ran a marathon. She, like me, was doing it to prove it to herself that she could as kind of a one time deal thing, and more realistically, I can see myself falling into this camp over the Weatherlys of the world.

5. It'll be over too soon. Kind of the opposite of number four, but I'd like to believe the adrenaline and endorphins will kick in and any minor aches and pains aside, I'll be high on life that day. Here's hoping this is the case!
 
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