I’ve made it!

Four and a half months later, I am within 5 days of finishing my second marathon (knock on wood). I’ve put blood, sweat, tears, toenails, and more in to training for this race, and…sans one minor injury this summer…have successfully made it to marathon week in 100% health. Now the nerves set in.

In March, I ran my first marathon here in DC. It was a miserable experience through and through. I started training after having spent a month+ travelling around Nepal (which meant not a single day of running). While I was trekking for much of that trip, the distances were not long. The hills? Steep, yes, but we only covered about 80 miles round trip in 15 days. The altitude was the challenge and didn’t set me up for a proper training base last winter. Then came mid-February. I got tendinitis that persisted all the way to marathon day. I didn’t run for 5 weeks before the race, and at mile 14, I almost gave up.

Fast forward to today. I just ran 13 miles on Saturday a full 15 seconds faster than my ideal race pace. If I maintain the consistency that I have seen through training, I could very well run a sub-9 minute mile the whole 26.2. Compare that to the 10:04 I ran in March, and we’ve got a serious PR headed my way.

BUT.

Every race brings its own challenges. I could be feeling 100% today, but come Saturday morning, my whole world could shift. This week, I am focusing on nutrition, hydration, and a few short 3-4 miles runs. Nothing hard, nothing fast. I’ve built my base, I feel confident in my abilities, and I’m ready to rock Baltimore!