Almost there!

I can hardly believe that I am waking up at 5 am tomorrow to run for 20 miles....20 miles!!! What am I crazy?!?! Sometimes I think so, but a little crazy is good for you :)

Tomorrow is the last major run before the marathon and I am really excited about it. I picked up a new outfit for the race that I'm going to try out tomorrow and I have my pace card ready and am going to do my best to follow along the 4:35:00 pace time. That would mean that I need to complete tomorrows run in at least 3:30:00. This will be a great test to see if I am at the level that I need to be for race day.

So it's another Friday night that I am at home while my friends are out having fun and I have to admit that I am looking forward to gaining some of my social life back after the marathon is over. As amazing as this whole experience has been, it has been a huge time committment and my life in general has changed quite a bit to make this a priority. But the expereince has taught me a lot about myself.

I can't think of anything in my life that I have set out to do and made a priority quite like this. When I said I was going to run a marathon, I think a part of me didn't believe it, it sounded like a great idea, but could I actually go through with it? I have been so diligent with my training, not letting a vacation, a late night at work, or laziness get in the way of reaching my goals. That in itself has made me a much more focused and organized person, 2 things that I was really needing in my life.

When I reflect on how my life has changed, its the small things, but they add up. I have become more organized with my things, my bills, clothes, my finances. The little things don't tend to bother me as much as they used to. I've realized what being healthy really feels like, and it's great! I always ate pretty healthy, but now I eat smart, and it's become so easy to do.

Losing weight has been a really nice perk of this whole expereince, not my main goal, but I can't really complain about it! I've lost a total of 10 pounds since the beginning of this year and am in the best shape of my life. I might need to buy some new clothes, but that would be the only unfortunate side effect :)

I'm still not sure what I'm going to think of the marathon, how can I really, but i'm keeping an open mind. Will I want to do another one, or will I curse them? Who knows, i'm not going to make that kind of decision until after the race...but the one thing I do know is, regardless i'm going to enjoy the downtime!

It's getting late and i should be sleeping, 5 am will come awfully early! After my ice bath and nap tomorrow I will share my (hopeful) success!