One Week Till Race Day

There's a lot of excitement building around The Flying Pig Marathon and rightfully so. It's such a fun weekend in Cincinnati with events that celebrate our great city. The Flying Pig is a quirky race with a ton of crowd support and throughout the weekend they have events that really appeal to all ages, ability levels, and interests. I really do get giddy around this time.

However the weight of knowing I'm running a full marathon contributes to some serious terror. I won't let this put a damper on the excitement of the week, but I am nervous. There are times when the thought pops into my mind about what I'm going to endure and my stomach drops. The mind is such a powerful thing and sometimes it's hard to get that in the right place.

I thought I would state some of my goals around the race. I didn't want to do this at first but I felt like I was copping out by not sharing my goals. These are the goals I want to meet and sharing them will help hold me accountable, whether I succeed or not. I want to finish the race between 4:45-5:00 hours. In order to do 4:45 I have to maintain a 10:53 pace. Studies show that marathoners slow down by 20% in the second half of the race, so this is something I'm going to have to consider when starting out. I would also like to complete the race without walking. There is absolutely nothing wrong with walking, and I know that people train to walk or do intervals all the time. I think nothing less of them. For me personally, I have just been training to run the marathon so I want to meet that goal.

Each day as the race approaches, I know I am taking on something that will challenge me mentally and physically. The hardships that I will encounter aren't lost on me. I know that miles 20-26 will be almost unbearable because I have never endured that mileage before and that my body will be close to shutting down by that point. I know that believing in myself will get me far and I hope that I can keep my mental state together, even when pushing through pain, soreness, heat, or whatever I might face. My legs will only hurt so much. My breathing will only get so heavy, my exhaustion level will only get so high. I can persevere. I can endure. I can. I can. I can.