LAST POST PRE-RACE

This will be my last post pre race. My mother-in-law arrives tomorrow, my son has a his 8th birthday on Friday (Happy Birthday sweetie!!), we have a couple of parties planned and it'll all be go, go, go for the next few days. The race is on Sunday and I promise to blog the good, the bad and the ugly.

So I wanted to make my final pre-race post about motivation and inspiration and why I'm choosing to run 21.1kms on a Sunday morning (following my son's birthday party the night before) instead of snuggling in under my doona to avoid the cold, the pain and the challenge.

As my blog header states, I've been many things during the course of my life including a "sometimes runner". Every now and then I know instinctively that its time to follow a dream and make it happen. I cant rest until I've done it. It feels like unfinished business in my life. That time came with taking my running to the next level so I stuck my neck out and took on the challenge to run a half marathon.

And for me it will be a challenge. Running that half marathon will be the new athletic Magda who has trained hard for the event and knows deep down that she can do it. But I'll be accompanied by my Inner Fat Girl who'll look around to check if I'm the fattest contender so she can chide me if I'm the slowest runner. I'll also be accompanied by my Doubting Doris who still makes me wonder if I can make it on the day and I'm sure there will be a good dose of nerves to unsettle me as well.

I had a crap run on Sunday and I'm glad thats out of the way. I felt good doing my last sprint session this morning. Tomorrow is a rest day and I have a 50 min run on Thursday to be done at an easy pace before 2 full days rest. I'm devoting time and thought to my mental prep now as physically there is not much more that can improve my performance. I do have aches and pains but nothing that I cant manage and work around - on the assumption that nothing worsens.

I have revised my goal from "I want to do this really well" to "I just want to run it and finish". I'm now aware that the first 5-6 kms (at least) will be hilly and I'm not underestimating how hard this will be for me. I can only give it my best shot and be smart about how hard I push through the hilly bits. Slow and steady wins the race.

Finally I'm running this race to prove to myself that I can. To prove that I can leave behind the Inner Fat Girl and the Doubting Doris, giving them the finger and declaring "F*CK YOU! I'M A LONG DISTANCE RUNNER".

Wish me well and think of me on Sunday morning as I start at 8am with a goal of running it in 2 hours 30 - 2 hours 40.

:-) Magda