6 Weeks To Go

I was emailing my super fast marathoning cousin last night and realized that the New York City Marathon is only six weeks away. At first I started freaking out that I would never be ready in time. The longest run I have done so far was 14 miles while most people have already knocked out at least one 20 miler. My mind was plagued with thoughts of how I will never have enough time to build up enough endurance. And last weekend's long run certainly didn't help. Instead of filling me with confidence it left me questioning everything.

But I have been an athlete long enough to know that a lot can happen in only six weeks. I went from walking my bike up the hills on the Keystone State Triathlon course to hammering up them and actually passing people in six weeks. Back in high school I recovered from surgery and qualified for nationals after only being in the pool for six weeks.

I had some really great training runs in August that gave me a tremendous amount of confidence heading into both the Keystone State Triathlon and the RNR Philadelphia Half Marathon. I only ran three or four times a week but my training also consisted of cycling, yoga, strength training, and swimming. I did weekly track workouts that increased my love for running and boosted my confidence. I increased my long runs and actually enjoyed doing all of them.

I am writing this post to remind myself not to get too stressed out and just to take everything one day at a time. Don't get worked up about the long runs and find my love of running through track workouts. I am doing the best I can and that is all that matters. I will run 26.2 miles on November 4th and I will enjoy every mile. I signed up to train for and run this marathon because I love running and I want to challenge myself. I don't ever want running and training to become something that causes me anxiety.