One Week

The marathon is one week from today! There is a light at the end of the 18-week-long tunnel! Or rather, the rollercoaster is about to tip over the edge of the first huge hill, which I've been slowly climbing toward for 18 weeks. AHHHHHHHHHH HERE IT COMES!!!

Melodrama aside, I feel prepared. My longest training run was 20 miles, and I was hobbling by the end, but I made it in 3:33 and change. This gives me hope that a sub-5-hour marathon is within my reach. As excited as I am to finish, I'm also curious to see how my body will respond to the distress. My 5k pace is a consistent 10 minutes a mile, if not faster, but stretching that pace over 26 miles is not so easy. According to veterans and various articles I've read, the body is not meant to run more than 20 miles. After that, it starts to shut down. So, uh, that should be fun.

I can't believe there's only a week left. There's so much more to say. I've been working on some creative writing throughout the 18-week training season, and I'm excited to share pieces of stories over the next couple months. Actually running the marathon is just the beginning; for the past three years I've been trying to determine the best way to tell the story of my weight loss journey and my discovery of running. I struggle with sharing the story because I'm aware of how unoriginal it is -- oh, so you stopped eating processed carbs and started exercising? Astounding!

Except that it really was. The long slog from my peak of 215 pounds in the summer of 2009 to my current state, around 155 pounds and in marathon-ready shape (knock on wood), was painful and arduous and empowering and full of setbacks and friendly encouragement and risk-taking. It all sounds bland and generic until the details are uncovered: the fact that I used to sneak into the kitchen after bed to snack on a nightly basis; the realization that if I wanted to reap any benefit from the tear-jerking pain of boot camp, then I'd have to eat less bread, my favorite food group; the terribly disheartening workouts, like when I'd step on the treadmill intending to run four miles and only make it four minutes; the #humblebrag successes, like when my roommate and I broke every one of our Personal Records running through sleet at the Polar Dash in January.

I want to write about all of it, and in a capacity that reaches beyond a blog. This is a rather forgiving medium, and I so appreciate those who have shared their stories with me as a result of this blog. Please continue to do so! And if you'll be in Chicago next weekend, go out to the marathon race course and cheer on the runners; spectator info is here. In particular, it'd be great to see a big crowd around the 20-mile mark...so if my body does just give out, there will be someone there to pick me up and point me toward the finish line!