Last One until Sunday

I’m ready. I’ve trained, I’ve worked so hard and I am ready to go. I’m excited. I feel rested (in fact, my facebook status today tells it all: I have as much energy as Buddy the Elf, the Energizer Bunny, the Tasmanian Devil, my mom and the Griswold’s Christmas Display. COMBINED. Let’s go CIM. I’m ready.) and I can’t wait to do this thing.

You all know my goal and what I want to do. I can rest assured that I have put in the hours upon hours of work required to reach my goal and now it is time to do it. Sunday is just a big fat celebration of 18 weeks of that work. It’s funny, although I’m sure when I was in it that training was hard but looking back on it now it just seems like it was a lot of fun. I met great friends, ran in really beautiful places and pushed myself harder than I knew was possible. So no matter the outcome on Sunday what matters is what it took to start- the outcome is just the icing. I’m not nervous or panicked or overwhelmed. I am excited. It’s going to be my day- I just know it.

There are a lot of people I have to thank for these 18 weeks… Jack for answering my questions and being the best coach a runner could ever ask for, Aron for being my constant buddy full of wise words, race invites and hilarious IMs, my roommate for understanding that our house was just going to be a locker room for 18 weeks, my family for trying to understand why on earth I’d do this, my coworkers for putting up with me and all of you for your kind words and affirmations. It’s true that this is an individual sport, but no one runs alone or can reach their goals without the love and support of many. I’m just lucky that my many happen to be all stars. Words fail me here, but rest assured that the gratefulness I feel is spilling from a very real and sincere place that is overflowing with all the love I feel.

Ok, I’m crying now, so I’m going to leave you with an email from a friend. It sums up the training better than I ever could.

So like I know you are about to run a shitload this weekend because I saw
the preview for CIM on the news before. So I thought I would just take the
time to pump you up.

I have never dreamed of running the distance you are about to run. In fact.
I rarely drive that distance. So the fact that you have taken on this
challenge in the first place shows that it is simply your nature to
challenge yourself. Puts you in a good spot.

As you line up, know that you have trained hard for this. All those days of
running all those days of waking up in the morning all those days running in
the evening they will pay off when you hit that finish line. Because you
have trained so hard there will be no doubt that you will put in a great
time. Along the way there will be people who will break, they will walk and
they will quit but it won’t be you, because you prepared. You know down to
the seconds what your capable of, but this weekend with the big crown you
will perform better than ever. Its not a question. You are ready, and you
will do great.

I hope this helps.