Ready Or Not, Here I Come!

      Confidence is a funny thing. Some people pour it over their Cheerios every morning, while others chase it like an elusive dream. I would place myself in a category in between these two groups. Sometimes I feel awesome, and other times I feel incapable of even tying my shoes correctly. It's important going into any big event to have your head held high, and I'm convinced that it's at least twice as important when a marathon looms on the horizon.

      With Boston now two measly weeks away, I've pondered many questions.Will I be strong enough for 26.2 miles? Did I train enough? Will I plan the logistics properly? Am I capable of running a smart race? OH MY GOSH, AM I READY FOR THIS?????

That's just a snapshot into my brain over the last 3 weeks or so.

       There's plenty of reasons why I might not run very well on April 15th. I didn't train enough for the down or up hills. I only ran longer than 2 hours 4 times, and  topped out at 21 miles. My longest tempo run was only 10 miles. I didn't start training till midway through January (and that's being generous: I wasn't extremely serious about training till February). But I won't be thinking about any of that when I line up in Hopkinton. I'll be thinking of the few reasons why it is in the realm of possibility that I will run well. I'm not overtrained, am generally healthy, and have a lot of support on my side.

     Therein lies the problem. As with any race, interview, exam, or other significant event, the preparation for said event doesn't determine the outcome alone. How ready you are for something is only a small slice of the pie. The rest is determined by your mindset going in and those things that you have no control over; things like the weather, the way your body feels that particular day, traffic....the list goes on and on. Once you become okay with the fact that you simply can't control everything, it becomes easier to handle the things that you can control.

   I know that Boston can throw a lot at me: the crowds, cold weather, rain, hills, etc, but the only thing I can do is stand at the start line and be ready for the things that I'm not ready for. I'm going to do my best to just be grateful for the opportunity of running a race like Boston. Runners all over the country spend gallons of sweat on trying to be where I will be in two weeks. I also have to remember that as of February I wasn't sure if I should even purchase a plane ticket because of some nagging injuries that delayed my training. The fact that I'm healthy right now is a blessing in itself.

     Just like anything else, I can only do my best. No matter the actual outcome, I know that whatever my best happens to be, it will be good enough.