I'm just 4 WEEKENDS off till my Half Marathon. Oh, you know... that thing that I've been training all year for.
Cue anxious sweating and mental cursing.
Normally, this would send me in to an imaginative Rocky-esque montage of me running up and down the Lake Front path to the sound of "Eye of the Tiger"
My photoshop skills are getting better!
However, this revelation is different. This is a freak out. A freak out in which I spend two days pouring over all material related to half marathon training plans. What should I be eating? What about my shoes- I think I need new ones. When do I get them? What should I wear if it's hot? What should I wear if it's cold? Should I bring my fanny pack hydration pack with me? Should I also bring my gels, gu, adrenaline bites? What if I'm not ready!?! What if I haven't trained hard enough or long enough!!! What if I'm the slowest, fattest, ugliest one there!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
The truth is: I'm pretty much ready. What's making me freak out is a combination of a horrible run on Sunday in which I could only run 8 out of my scheduled 11 (really, it was supposed to be 12.5) and the fact that my views on races are both dread and excitement.
The lead up to a race is full of self-doubt. There are so many what-ifs involved that it becomes a mind game. I hate this part. I hate looking at my training, something I put countless amount of hours and sacrificed so many precious sleeping hours for, and thinking that I didn't do enough. I hate that I will look at those gazelle like ladies at the Half Expo and know that I will be behind them from start to finish. These four weeks will be nothing but analyzing and agonizing.
But the lead up is always the worst part. When I get to the race, I'll be overjoyed, full of nervous butterflies, but calm in my pursuit. At the start line, I turn in to a captain. I know the charts, the path, the intervals. Now it's time to lead my ship home. And at the finish, I'll reward myself with a bagel and a banana (maybe even some brunch or ribs). And at home, I'll put my medal and my bib on my wall and admire it every time I start to feel like I didn't do enough.
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Schedule for the week:
Monday- yoga and kickboxing
Tuesday- 5K, New Rules strength
Wednesday- dance or swimming
Thursday- 6 miler, New Rules strength
Friday- Rest
Saturday- Spin class or work outs in the park (yoga, pilates, zumba)
Sunday- Fleet Feet Sports Women's 5K/10K (doing the 10K), New Rules strength
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