Race weekend is here! [CLE Marathon]

I’ve been training 18 long weeks for this weekend. My prize for training? 26.2 miles. One final, celebratory long run. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. I’ve been working through my knee injury, I’ve gone for treatment twice this week, and I’ve been hydrating and carb-loading as I have been throughout training.

Has this week gone as smoothly as I’d hoped it would? Not even close. I’ve had two sick kids home with me all week and I haven’t been focusing on rest and nutrition as much as I wish I had. But, these are all things I will learn from and also things I can’t control.

I have quite literally been “all the feels” this week. I think the hardest part was making the executive decision to take a week of rest. No running at all! Do you know how hard this is, people? BUT, I really wanted to hone in on rehabilitating my injury and not exacerbating anything. So I have sacrificed for the greater good.

As seen on Instagram, and to quote my girl Julie: all the feels…

I also realized that I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on myself in terms of projected (goal) time and pace, when in reality I need to focus solely on finishing the race. I had a nice chat with one of the assistants at the chiro’s office Thursday morning. He’s a student at Akron University — and a runner — and he said that he’s read (and heard) that the first marathon should really be about finishing and nothing else. I already knew this. Why it took hearing it from a chiropractic assistant to change my way of thinking is beyond me. But for whatever reason, it worked. Our conversation reminded me that when I registered for the marathon, my sole intent was to finish. Somehow, some way, my thought process changed to include a time goal as well. A time goal is no longer on the agenda. I guess saying, “I just want to finish” is much different than actually practicing “I just want to finish.” Slow and steady is the name of the game. Just gotta learn to play it!

Am I bummed that I’ll probably have to run/walk? Would I have loved to have had a picture-perfect week leading up to the race in terms of sleep and relaxation? Yeah, for sure. But I’ve trained too long and too hard to let any of that interfere with my race.

I made my energy balls on Thursday and planning to make Blueberry Marathon bars on Friday. After that I just get to decide on my race outfit (best part of the race EVER. Isn’t that why we race in the first place?) and then figure out the hydration situation. Belt? Vest? Aid stations? Good times!

Other than that, I’m going into the marathon confident in my training, excited to run again, pumped for some photo opps, and also to meet up with fellow runners. I’m really looking forward to it, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for me. Here we go… Let’s do this!!