5 days....

5 days out from my third half marathon and the nerves and jitters have hit me full throttle already!  I paid for the race a few weeks ago, so there's no backing out now.... I'm too cheap to let that registration fee go to waste! Haha!  While I'll round out this week with continued training and exercise, today I ran my last "long run" before the race and it gave me opportunity to try to pound out some thoughts and fears.

I don't feel quite as prepared for this race as I was for my last half marathon in all honesty.  For the last one, I had been consistently training and exercising for nearly a year and a half leading up to the race.  This go round, I just started back to exercising at 5 months postpartum this past January. 

The first week of training involved a whole lot of frustration and self talk.... I have lofty goals of being a fierce competitor and completing this race faster than I did my last half.  And while I've kept consistent, my training has not gone 100% to plan the last 12 weeks and I have rode the struggle bus often!  I had to have a heart to heart with myself and where I'm at in my training.  I don't know that it's realistic for me to think that I can beat my last time.  (It was a really great run!)  .... BUT, it came down to, "Do I still run the race, even I can't?"

Obviously, I've decided to still run, but I don't know what kind of emotions will hit me race day when I look at the time as I cross that finish line.

Race 13.1 May 2014

Two years ago, I completed Race 13.1... since then, they have changed the course, I have had a 3rd child, and I've been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that comes with a host of symptoms, some of the more obnoxious being extreme fatigue and muscle weakness.  Like I told my endocrinologist at my appointment last month though, "I have to do this for me!"