Me and my shadow.

My support system throughout this entire process has been and continues to be more than I could have possibly imagined… my mom and dad, my Dynamic Duo, my extended family, friends, acquaintances,  informative running store employees, the nice sales people in Lululemon who assured me that not only would I finish but that I would look good while doing it (granted, I was picking out a race day shirt but I like to think it had nothing to do with commissions or sales quotas), random strangers such as the person who picked up my dropped money in the Starbucks when I couldn’t make my knees work to squat and retrieve it after a long run, etc.  Needless to say, everyone has been amazing and I’m brought to tears (the happy kind, not the rolling my ITB out on the foam roller kind) when thinking about how incredibly lucky I am. It really has taken a village (don’t think you’re all off the hook after this thing though… I need my village for daily living as well!).

The thing about running this marathon though is that while my support system has been invaluable in more ways than I can count and I would be completely and utterly lost without them (in all aspects of life really), at the end of the day it’s just me…. I have to run the marathon... nobody can run the race for me... it's just me and my shadow. Clearly, I’ve known all along that eventually I would have to run 26.2 miles (although secretly I’ve fantasized about Sporty pushing me down the course on roller skates while Bendy does back bends and other gumby-ish moves alongside) but it’s taken me a while to give myself credit for what I’ve accomplished to date and what I’m about to take on.  I’m working hard in these final days to push through the remaining emotional clutter and get to a place of settled confidence for the marathon as well as turning 40. Both things are so momentous and I want to be fully present and not dilute either occasion with doubt or other sorts of wasteful self-sabotage.  

Speaking of turning 40, I’ve been doing a good job at stretching out this year’s birthday celebrations… My mom was with me for the very fun and celebratory  hair/beauty/shopping/sidewalk café day earlier this week  and today I had a pre-birthday lunch with my dad at Sam’s (not the one in Tiburon that I raved about in a previous post.. going to that one on my actual birthday, this Sam’s is just north of Half Moon Bay and is delightful in just as many ways). It was a gorgeous afternoon as you can see by my lovely beverage photo (I’m still working on the tapering of wine part... much easier to taper miles on some days) and I had such a good time! 

I ran 6 miles today on a beautiful San Francisco morning.  The worst of my aches and pains are resolving themselves and I’m regaining some of the energy that the fatigue of so many miles has brought on.  I have 9 days and 9 miles left in my training and 4 days until I turn 40...I’m sure there is some sort of numerology meaning in all those numbers but I think I’ll just take it as a sign of good things to come.

6miles, 57min 37sec, avg 9:36 (like the wind again!! this new hair is killing it!)

Cheers,

SF runner in training