The Final Stretch

I always feel very weird the final two weeks before a marathon.  There is so much uncertainty.  No matter how hard you trained, you'll always sit there and think "Did I do enough?", "Should I have done another 20+ miler run?", "Am I ready?".  The runs are shorter but oddly enough for me, they start to feel harder.  I have random aches that were never there during hard training. I feel winded during shorter runs. And all of this just helps to perpetuates my uncertainty and my mind wanders even more.  Each run I go on in those final weeks I envision the race ... whether I try to or not.  You picture your best day, you picture your worst day.. and you image what it's going to feel like.  I also find myself spending time listening to motivational speeches including my favorite from Any Given Sunday:

As well as this motivational Nike commercial ... gets me every time:

"This is not a math test, this is a completely different kind of test.  One where passion has a funny way of trumping logic." That's my favorite line...   I think that applies to the marathon in so many ways.  It's not always about how many miles you ran, how well did you eat, how many long runs did you do... All of those things are important but at the end of the day anything can happen on that day.  I really believe that training gets you to mile 20 ... Passion and determination take you the final 6 miles.

It's hard not to think about the race in the final days.  You hope that you are prepared.  No matter how hard you train, there are so many variables on that day. You hope your body is ready to go when you step on that line.  I find that the uncertainty of your fitness and the uncertainty of any new course (Boston for me this time), actually allows for some unique things to happen.  I don't worry as much about pace but I let my mind shut off, enjoy the views, and wait until the race really begins.  For marathoners, or maybe just for me, the race really doesn't begin until Mile 18-21, obviously each time I am always hoping it will start later than the previous race.  From the start of mile 1 you have so much adrenaline, so much to take in, and you know on any given day you can get to mile 18 on adrenaline.  The race really begins when you need to start digging deeper for more.  

There always comes a time in that race where I begin to struggle, I start to wonder how I am going to make it.  At that point, I start to break down the race.  I'll use an example to further describe what I mean, 5 miles to go ... translates to less than 35 minutes of running (hopefully)... let's take this in 5 minute chunks.  I break it down to a manageable piece and I focus just on that one piece.... 5 minutes of running. "You can do this". No matter how bad I feel, I can always get through 5 minutes of running.  As I get closer to the finish I continue to break down what is left.  Even though the race is getting harder, it gets easier when I break it down into smaller and smaller pieces.  This really works to get my mind to force my body to do things that it's unsure it can accomplish.  

The final miles of a marathon I wonder why I do it, it's so challenging, and at times incredibly painful ... however, undoubtedly as soon as I cross that line, I want to do another.  In the end, there really is nothing like crossing the finish line. It's the most addicting feeling.  So much pain ... but SO much reward.  I feel blessed to be able to run and for me the Marathon is my ultimate challenge. Each time, it is a completely different experience, but always leaves me coming back for more.