1 Month Countdown

In exactly 1 month and 1 hour,

I will be in Athlete's Village lining up with my corral to run the biggest race of my life, 

and more than likely concentrating on not wetting my compression pants.

What's so incredible to me

is that it will be the biggest race of everyone else's life as well. 

So all of these walks of life who are all running for different reasons,

will be cuddled up under some tent or lined up at some porta-potty,

sharing the exact same chill as everyone else:

I'm about to run a marathon.

So this will be my first,

and the person next to me may be on their 20th,

but running 26.2 miles isn't exactly natural.

We will all be pushing  our bodies to unnatural and powerful limits.

Whether someone's pace is 6 minutes or 15 minutes,

we all have the common goal of finishing, and finishing well.

At that point we put the 400+ miles it took to get to this point in our back pockets

and give this incredible trot our best. 

We'll set out past the start

and we won't stop pushing our bodies and minds until the finish. 

I can't tell you how excited/nervous/scared I am.

But I can tell you how proud I am to have gotten to this point.

A few months ago I could hardly run 3 miles without huffing and puffing.

I wouldn't even look ahead in my training because it would scare me.

Tomorrow, I set out for a 20-miler,

and I'm excited about it. 

20 miles is the furthest I'm set to go in my training.

So this means that if I can do it, 

Hal Higdon thinks I'm ready to run a marathon. 

And to me,

that is huge. 

So Hal,

I will make you proud tomorrow,

and most importantly,

I'll make me proud.

May the luck of the Irish be with me tomorrow! 

Regardless, I know how I'll be celebrating: