So here I am again…
7 days until I run the marathon.
As I have mentioned before, I was NOT ready for the marathon last year. Not physically and more importantly not mentally. I let it become bigger than me. I talk all the time about how people can have so much potential inside of them to do whatever they want, but the fact of the matter is, I did not believe in my own message when it came to me. I still thought of myself of the overweight kid in high school or would breathing heavy after running a block. The fact is that I am not that kid anymore. I haven’t been for a long time, and I don’t plan on going back to that kid. There is no chance that you can become amazing unless you try to become amazing. If I was able to show 16 year old me what I can do, the fact is, that he would think that what I am doing is amazing. So why shouldn’t the present-day me think the same?
So what did I do? I stuck much closer to the training plan this year and I trained smarter. The pounding of running will take its toll on a larger framed person like myself. So unscheduled rest days are a must. I am not a professional, so I need to make sure I take care of my body when it is asking for it. On the same note, if I want to succeed, I need to put in the work. No one else…just me. So this year, I made sure I couldn’t make any excuses when marathon day came along. This year I want to step into the corral at the marathon and know that I did everything in my power to be successful. I believe I have fulfilled that requirement.
OK, confession time…
EVERY Sunday of this training program, I contemplated quitting. I had many great runs and I had some bad runs, but the thought of just calling it quits was on time every week. The day after my long runs on Saturday I sat back and I was in disbelief that I just ran that distance, or I could not believe I logged those miles throughout the week, or month. I fantasized with the idea of just stopping my training altogether and drown my failure in ice cream. But then Monday would come. I would transform into this robot when I put my running shoes on. And like clockwork I would get back into my groove once again. I would get through the week, get my long run done, and then say hello to the question of Sunday. It was a vicious cycle, but I knew to expect it every single week. So I’m here on a Sunday night, thinking about quitting, just like any other week.
But something is different this week. Yesterday I ran 9 miles for the last long run of the marathon training. I look back at yesterday, and I know I ran it. I look back and think, “that was easy”. I am confident about how I ran those 9 miles. I am confident I can do that again, almost 3 times in a row, next Sunday, with 45,000 other people, and millions of people cheering.
So here we are, on a Sunday, 7 days away from my second marathon, and I don’t want to quit.
I don’t know how to…