“Great”.
Sorry for my lack of blogs-piration, friends. The last couple weeks have been kicking my BEHIND. Between classes and usual fall craziness in the wonderful world of Admission- I have had zero time. But I am here now, so never fear (as if people really notice when I don’t write for a week).
So the big day is approaching, the day I have been working my tail off for over 5 months and then some. I am super excited and nervous all at the same time. I say nervous because since my last 20 miler 3 weeks ago, my body has not felt good on a run or any workout for that matter. The stress of work really hit me I am hoping I just needed rest, which this week has been all about. So of course, that is getting to my head a little bit.
Although this will be my third marathon, it will be the first one ever where I am aiming for a pace. For you marathoners out there, you know how tricky that can be. A lot can happen in 26.2 miles. My goal for Sunday is to find the 3:35 pace group and hang with them for the first 13-18 miles depending on how I feel. That way I will not have to worry about looking at my watch and psyching myself out every two minutes. I can just listen to my music, take in the scenery and get in the zone. Miles 18-26 will be where I need to dig in and bring it home.
It is still very surreal to me that this could potentially happen. Could I really be a Boston qualifying caliber of a runner? You have to understand, that the majority of my athletic life I have been good at many things, but not great at anything. It always kind of stuck with me on the soccer field, race track and cross country course that I was just mediocre. “Some people are born with talent and some aren’t, at least I am out here”- that is what I would tell myself. You know what I have realized? It was never that I was not great, I just never tried hard enough. Plain and simple. I was comfortable being mediocre. Being mediocre doesn’t hurt. Nobody expects anything of you. Nobody depends on you. It is safe.
Go ahead and roll your eyes when I say this but…Crossfit taught me that this way of thinking was pretty much crap. I THOUGHT I worked hard in the gym…I am a runner! I have done Ironmans! Of course I work hard! Maybe to the un-trained eye I work hard, but you see there was all this un-tapped potential that I never even knew I had. Crossfit taught me that when I dabble outside my comfort zone, I am capable of some pretty awesome things. I have been running since I was 13….yet in this past year alone I literally PR’ed in every single race. EVERY SINGLE ONE! It blew my mind every time, for 3 of them I was the overall female winner…what? It was kind of uncomfortable at first, I mean a PR is awesome but winning? I don’t win races, I am mediocre. Not anymore.
Most of us will say we want to be great at something. Most of us will envy those with “talent”. The truth is anybody can be great, you just have to try. Are you willing to push your limits? Are you willing to fall on your face and get back up? If you don’t want to put in the work to be great, you simply don’t want it bad enough.
I cannot express how thankful I am for all the support in my journey to be a Boston Hopeful. Whether or not I make my goal on Sunday, I can say I tried. I can say that put myself on the line and went after this thing called “great”. If nothing else, I hope that this journey of mine has inspired some of you to get after something you always dreamed of, but never thought possible. To realize YOUR true potential in running, in life, in work whatever. If one of you felt that way, well then I consider this journey a success already.
Stay blessed in the mess 🙂
P.s to go along with this post, if you need an extra kick in the butt…watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTFnmsCnr6g
