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10-10-10, The Date to Motivate.
That’s what you’ll find on the Chicago Marathon website just above a countdown to the race, which right now reads 15:20:58:23, and keeps ticking away as the start of my second marathon draws nearer and nearer.
It occurred to me how close it is to race day when I found my marathon participant guide in my mailbox yesterday. From that, I found that my bib number is 41,128 (yes, I registered very late), and because I fall into the group of more than 9,500 charity runners, I can start in any corral I’d like. If I feel like starting in Corral A with the elites, no problem. Of course, I’d get trampled about 10 seconds into the race when my all-out sprint succumbed to their warm-up pace.
The guide and the ever ticking countdown on the website have left me with a strange mixture of nerves and excitement. I ran my first marathon in January with a permanent smile plastered on my face because I was so excited that I was actually running a marathon, something I never dreamed I would do. But now, as Oct. 10 approaches, I’m finding that I’m kind of terrified. I remember how sore my feet were at mile 20 when an onlooker yelled out to the runners, “Great job, only a 10K left!” — very discouraging at the time. And how I took my first walking break at mile 25, knowing I had only 1.2 miles to go, but felt I couldn’t go on.
I’m not really sure if I’m more nervous about the 26.2 miles or the fact that I’m about $300 shy of my fundraising goal of $1000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society via Team in Training.
Either way, the race is coming and I don’t feel ready.
It may have something to do with the fact that I skipped my 20-mile run altogether and nixed the whole first week of tapering, opting instead to take that week off completely. Why, you ask? Well, to take a quick trip to California and Colorado over the span of 5 short, jam-packed-with-activities days, of course. I packed my running gear, I promise, but it only seemed to make it out of the suitcase when I was digging for my Elway jersey to wear to last Sunday’s Bronco’s game.
It all started with a quick trip to California to attend a taping of the Ellen DeGeneres show, a late birthday present from my momma. (Thanks again Momma!) It was tons of fun. My mom and I ended up in the first row and watched as Ellen chatted with Courtney Cox and Alex O’Laughlin of the revitalized Hawaii 5-0.
10-10-10, The Date to Motivate.
That’s what you’ll find on the Chicago Marathon website just above a countdown to the race, which right now reads 15:20:58:23, and keeps ticking away as the start of my second marathon draws nearer and nearer.
It occurred to me how close it is to race day when I found my marathon participant guide in my mailbox yesterday. From that, I found that my bib number is 41,128 (yes, I registered very late), and because I fall into the group of more than 9,500 charity runners, I can start in any corral I’d like. If I feel like starting in Corral A with the elites, no problem. Of course, I’d get trampled about 10 seconds into the race when my all-out sprint succumbed to their warm-up pace.
The guide and the ever ticking countdown on the website have left me with a strange mixture of nerves and excitement. I ran my first marathon in January with a permanent smile plastered on my face because I was so excited that I was actually running a marathon, something I never dreamed I would do. But now, as Oct. 10 approaches, I’m finding that I’m kind of terrified. I remember how sore my feet were at mile 20 when an onlooker yelled out to the runners, “Great job, only a 10K left!” — very discouraging at the time. And how I took my first walking break at mile 25, knowing I had only 1.2 miles to go, but felt I couldn’t go on.
I’m not really sure if I’m more nervous about the 26.2 miles or the fact that I’m about $300 shy of my fundraising goal of $1000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society via Team in Training.
Either way, the race is coming and I don’t feel ready.
It may have something to do with the fact that I skipped my 20-mile run altogether and nixed the whole first week of tapering, opting instead to take that week off completely. Why, you ask? Well, to take a quick trip to California and Colorado over the span of 5 short, jam-packed-with-activities days, of course. I packed my running gear, I promise, but it only seemed to make it out of the suitcase when I was digging for my Elway jersey to wear to last Sunday’s Bronco’s game.
It all started with a quick trip to California to attend a taping of the Ellen DeGeneres show, a late birthday present from my momma. (Thanks again Momma!) It was tons of fun. My mom and I ended up in the first row and watched as Ellen chatted with Courtney Cox and Alex O’Laughlin of the revitalized Hawaii 5-0.
While I thought running in California was a great idea, I just couldn’t seem to squeeze it in during our day-and-a-half trip to the Golden State.
The next morning, my mom and I arrived at the airport about 4:45 a.m. Since we fly standby — much cheaper, but not always so dependable — we didn’t make it on to the full 6 a.m. flight. We caught the 10 a.m. flight instead and flew into Denver, where I met up with Terry and Luke.
Friday night we went to the Great American Beer Festival. Super fun, but you can imagine why my Saturday morning run didn’t happen. We spent Sunday afternoon at the Bronco’s game and caught a little NHL action Monday evening at the Avalanche’s Burgundy and White scrimmage. Combine all of that with trying to find the time to see our friends and family in the area, and my plans to run just didn’t happen.
So, as you can see, it’s not really my fault that running was put on the back burner last week. I think Ellen, the Broncos, the Avalanche and various friends and family in the Denver area should share the blame.
But now, it’s time to get back to reality. With only 15:20:40:09 left until the marathon, I’m just pretending last week didn’t happen (running-wise, at least, because it was a very fun week), picking up where I should be on my training schedule and hoping for the best!
I’ll let you know how it went in about 16:19:06:02.
