As you may know, I have been training for a marathon, which will be my first. It is happening on Sunday and I can't wait for it to be over. I don't know why I'm so nervous, but I catch myself thinking about it throughout the day and my heart starts beating faster. I have anxiety over racing, which is ridiculous because I really shouldn't have expectations. It's my first one ever. I should just be happy finishing, but I think it must be my competitive nature that compels me to think I should go a certain time. And it doesn't help knowing what the Boston qualifying time is either.
I have to keep telling myself that I really don't care that much about running. It was just a fun thing to do to take a break from rock climbing. But somehow I find myself over-analyzing my race, worrying about getting enough food/water during the race. I've already made a playlist for my I-pod with some good beats, and hopefully the 19,999 other people out there will be an encouragement. A funny thing that may turn out to be a blessing in disguise is that I am in the last group to cross the starting line. Since there are so many people in the race, they have organized participants into blocks; group A, B, C, etc to group N. I'm in group N because I didn't make up an entry time. So if I do end up going my goal time (under 4 hours) then I will be passing quite a few people. (The people in group M are entered around 5-5:30)
We head up tomorrow sometime, planning to meet up with friends and either camp or chance our luck on a hotel with all the other people. I'm trying to let go a little of my preparedness and be more spontaneous, just to see what God has in store for us. For those of you thinking and praying for me, thank you. I need it.
