The Plan

Along my journey I read something that has stuck with me and has especially been on my mind recently as marathon day is catapulting towards me... split the race into three sections.  Run the first with your mind, the second with your personality and the third with your heart.

Marathon day is only 5 days away and I have basically calibrated my body to be capable of a 26.2 mile run.  So now a successful marathon is up to my mind... how does one calibrate their mind??

My intention is to follow directions... throughout my training I have had a *few* reminders (thank you to my coach, Dave)... it will be hard to go out slow, but GO OUT SLOW and there will be a point when it will become very difficult, BUT KEEP GOING...  So I have to prepare to face these two inevitable challenges.

My first challenge will be to go out SLOW... If I split the course into 3s, this will be my goal for my first 9 miles.  I run through Georgetown from about mile 8 through 9 on my course... so once I get to Georgetown I should be thinking something along the lines of- what a lovely course this has been, I'm so happy I've taken my time to enjoy it, I still feel so light, happy, determined, comfortable!  I should be between 103-108 minutes, anything faster and I haven't followed directions...

My second section will take me up to about mile 18- I'll be in Washington, DC at that point, passing by the Smithsonian and some other of the Nation's Capitol's finest sites... at this point I should be running with my personality- should be having fun and hopefully found a nice groove and met some good people along the way... I may be in danger of getting very close to the part where it feels very difficult- where I start to think holy crap what was I thinking?

Per my directions, I will start to run from the heart, and to break the remaining 8 miles into smaller, palpable measurements.  This will be where my courage may start to break down, but my willpower must kick in.

I am not oblivious to the fact that it was courage that helped me begin this (thank you courage!!!), but that it won't be enough to finish this.  In general, courage is good for starting a journey, but willpower, dedication, commitment is needed to end one.

In the end I can only trust in my training and give it everything I have to give to get to that freaking finish.  (and with any luck make it look good because there are photographs involved!)