Calming Down During the (Taper) Storm

For those of you who’ve known me for longer than about 5 minutes, you know that I’ve had my sights set on Boston for years. And in a matter of DAYS, I’ll be making that dream a reality. For those of you who’ve known me for a little longer than that (maybe 10 minutes), you know that I’ve also had my sights set on a sub-3 hour marathon. I'd be lying if I said I weren't scared shitless. Scared shitless of what? Stumbling. Starting out way too quickly and bonking. Not getting sub-3. Disappointing all of my friends and family who will be watching from Boston and elsewhere. I know they'll all say that it's merely an honor to even toe the starting line. And rationally, I know they're right. But just toeing the line isn't enough. There's that fervor in me to give it everything that I possibly can. Because the reality is that there's no guarantee that I'll qualify again. No guarantee that I'll get a second shot at running Boston. So I have one chance to run the best that I can in the best race in the world. 

Throughout this training cycle, I dealt with Achilles tendonopathy and plantar fasciitis and started doubting myself. Even with the outpouring of support, I was still wondering, "What if I fail and let everyone down?" I started pondering this on one of my runs (go figure), and ended up asking myself, "You have all these people who believe in you. Why don't you believe in you?” My subconscious made a good point. So often, I find myself advising others to stop the negative self-talk. But yet, I can’t seem to take my own advice. 

Dailymile has been a great source of encouragement over the last 3+ years. But this training cycle, I found myself logging on, reading everyone's workouts, and feeling like I wasn't doing enough to get ready. I think this was more when I was injured, but regardless, I was doing just about everything I could do. That never-good-enough feeling never seems to do anyone any good. And so I tried to tune out dailymile as best as I could. I dealt with that injury in February, and managed to log 177 miles in March and have a good experience racing the Shamrock 15K in the rain. 

Toward the end of the race

While my goal of sub-3 is scaring me, I'm also strangely calm. I can't explain it. I remember feeling this way before MCM, and the only thing I could attribute the calmness to then was the feeling like I had already won. I know, I know, it makes absolutely no sense to feel as though you've won before you've crossed the starting line. But all of the love and support I received just made me feel so happy. Plus, I got to catch up with some incredible friends during that weekend. So far, this marathon trip looks like it'll be very similar. I've received so many well-wishes from friends and family, and even tips from a few. I have plans to see friends who I haven't seen in over a year (some even longer). I'll be staying with one of my best friends from grad school (who lives super close to the finish line!). I'll be having pre-race dinner at my cousin's house. But what's most touching is that my mom will be making the 3,000 mile trip to merely WATCH me run. (Okay, maybe she's tacking a family visit onto her vacation plans, but the primary purpose of her trip is to watch me run.) How awesome is that?

Over the last few weeks, I've also received so many words of encouragement from my coworkers. Even they know this is a big deal for me. Now I may have sent them all an Outlook invite with my bib number so that a notification pops up around marathon starting time, but they started asking me about Boston before I did that. That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. 

As the saying goes, "the hay is in the barn." In other words, what's done is done, and I can't do a damn thing to change it. It won't help me any to worry about it either, because that'll just translate to me being a nervous wreck for the next 4-5 days, coming out of the barn way too quickly, and then running out of steam. The level of support I’ve received from everyone is helping to keep me calm during a time that I’d otherwise be ready to jump out of my skin. And that makes me feel like I’ve won, whatever the outcome of Monday’s race may be.

What's Done is Done

The taper -- the time when you back off from running, and then have to deal with the emotional overload that comes from not running. Well, alright, maybe you don't have to, but I feel better when I do. And right now, my way of dealing is by putting it out there for everyone to read.

With five days to go, I'm equal parts calm and terrified. Okay, maybe equal is a lie. But I'm feeling calm and terrified. And a bit excited too. But because calm isn't as exciting to discuss or read about, I'm going to discuss the fear factor.

I haven't talked much about goals because my one big time goal for the marathon is to break 3 hours. Perhaps I've said it before, but I'll say it again anyway. The thought of running a 2:xx marathon scares me shitless. I'm trying to stay calm, because I know that if I get worked up, I'll use that energy to fly through the first half, only to die in the second half. So we'll see how that plays out on Saturday morning.

Taper mode seems to turn me into a huge worrywart. Every little niggle (Aussie slang for minor ache/pain) makes me worried that it's going to turn into something major on Race Day. Which then makes me worried that my sub-3 is out of reach. But all I can do is rehab and foam rolling. You know, all of that ancillary stuff.

I also dealt with iron deficiency this training cycle (and no, I still don't have any idea what's causing the deficiency), and I know that it affected a good chunk of my runs during the second half of this training cycle. How? Paces that used to feel easy suddenly started feeling challenging. And I'd be lying if I said that didn't make me doubt whether I can achieve my goal.

I haven't done as much core and strength work as I probably should have over this training cycle. And that makes me worried that I've kissed that sub-3 goodbye. But I had my first 200-mile month during this cycle, and I lived to talk about it. And that counts for something, right?

As I type all of this, I'm telling myself that worrying about the 15,000 things that could potentially go wrong is like a rocking chair -- it'll help me bide my time, but it won't get me anywhere.

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That I need to crush self-doubt. That I'm greater than the injuries that have plagued me. That I've put the miles in, have done the speed work, and what's done is done. And most importantly, that I have an incredible network of friends (real-life and social media runners) and family who believe in me, and will be cheering me on from the race course, sidelines, and across the country. And that, my friends, is how I've calmed myself down. Oh, and listening to my pre-run playlist of Kelly Clarkson, David Guetta, and the like.

My project for the next few days is to keep myself calm and relaxed. I have my pre-race massage scheduled for tomorrow (Tues), a haircut scheduled for Wed, a reunion with the lovely and fierce Erin on Fri, and a weekend at the coast with some awesome running friends. Plenty of things to smile about, right?

Analysis Paralysis: 25 Days to Newport

Hola! Happy Seis de Mayo! Or belated Cinco de Mayo. Whatever you want to call it.

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Yes, yes, I know, I owe you all an apology for being AWOL the last two weeks. Unlike my last absence, I can't say that I was on any epic adventures. Unless long runs count.

First things first. Let's all take a moment of silence to mourn the lost of my beloved Garmin Forerunner 305. The intermittent issues from a few weeks ago became more frequent, and after rounds of troubleshooting at 6am with Garmin Tech Support (because 6am is the only time I can catch them while they're open), I accepted that I needed to buy a new watch. Fortunately, Garmin has this awesome program where you can send in your old watch for a $99 credit toward a new one. New Garmin at a discounted price? Yes, please! So I ordered the Garmin Forerunner 220. It has yet to arrive, but when it does, I will be writing a review on it. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a photo from their website.

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While I've been (im)patiently awaiting its arrival, I've been running my standard routes. Half the time, I haven't bothered to time them. The other half, I use the iPhone stopwatch, and use that as my excuse to run with music. It's been nice to become temporarily unplugged, but the data nerd analyst in me can't wait to get my new watch so I can resume recording my runs and poring over splits, etc.

Speaking of analyzing things, I've been analyzing my performance this training cycle to the point where I'm mentally psyching myself out. It's a problem, people. (The psyching myself out, not the data interpretation.) The last couple weeks, I hadn't felt as springy on some of my workouts. I tried to figure out whether it was due to not sleeping enough, not eating/drinking enough, pushing myself too much on the hard days, or something else. The other day, I had coffee before my run and felt much faster. And then it dawned on me that cutting back on my caffeine could be contributing to this issue. 

Yes people, I tried cutting out coffee to help with the iron issue. The first few days involved agonizing headaches and withdrawal.

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Then I did some more research, and found that polyphenol intake shouldn't occur within an hour of consuming an iron-rich meal. I'm taking that to mean that my mid-morning mug of coffee is still within limits, but all the other cups I had been drinking are not.

But back to my analysis issues. We're 25 days out (holy whoa...), and because some of my workouts haven't gone according to plan, I've been doubting wondering if I have a sub-3 hour marathon in me. I know I've put in the miles, but I just haven't felt fresh and my workout times (for recovery and GA runs) seem slower than they were during MCM and Eugene '13 training. I think I just need to "trust the training" and trust the Pfitzinger plan, and also silence the demon between my ears (i.e., my brain). But still, what if? And what if I can't fix my issues in 3.5 weeks?

Alright, I know that this is complete stream-of-consciousness, but that's the story of my life.

How do you silence your demon and stop wondering, "What if?"

Eyes on the Prize

Hey there! Happy Monday!

This past week was definitely rough. I didn't get as much sleep as I should have, and my seasonal allergies decided to wage a war.

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Oh, and this was the first week of the Lactate Threshold + Endurance Mesocycle. Not a fun combo. I saw firsthand how the lack of sleep can negatively affect a workout (and make you crave all sorts of unhealthy foods), but I also saw how focusing on a goal can get you through a bad workout (or workouts).

I was on the phone with my friend Benjamin (who I convinced in 2010 to take up the sport of marathoning) last week. Benjamin's currently training for the Ottawa Marathon, which is just a week before Newport. Given this, you'd expect that we'd have had lots of training stories to swap. However, our conversation was focused on marathon goals. Specifically, how do you determine said goal, and how do you distinguish between too conservative, realistic, and too ambitious. I always err on the side of too ambitious, so I'm probably not the best person to ask for advice on this (unless the advice you want to hear is "Go big or go home"). After hanging up with him, I remembered that Erin wrote an excellent post on this for The SF Marathon's blog (and I'm not just saying that because yours truly makes a cameo in it). Goals are supposed to be a bit terrifying, but if you break up your goal into smaller benchmarks, it helps make it a little less terrifying. So I forwarded him a link to her post.

That conversation got me thinking about my own crazy-ass goals. I'm sure I've said this somewhere on here, but my goal for 2014 is to run a sub-3:00 marathon (pace: 6:52/mi). I'd be lying if I said that running a 2:xx marathon didn't freak me out. But that fear helped push my sleep-deprived and congested self out the door and through all of my workouts. Because what scares me more than the goal itself is the thought of disappointing myself and everyone else by not meeting it.

Mon
Planned: Rest or xt
Actual: Rest

Tues:
Planned: Recovery 5
Actual: 5.02 mi at 7:42/mi pace

My piriformis was bugging me for the first 1-2 miles. And then I'd pick up the pace, only to remind myself that it was a recovery run. During either mile 3 or 4, I noticed that I was just clunky (short strides, tight arms, and what seemed like bad form to me). So I focused on relaxing my arms, keeping my upper body straight, and lengthening my stride. And it definitely helped!

Splits: 8:07, 8:08, 7:37, 7:22, 7:21, 7:15 (for 0.02 mi)

Wed
Planned: MLR 12 mi
Actual: 12.11 mi at 8:02/mi

I'm trying to think of positive things to say about this workout, but all I can come up with is "I did it" and "I didn't lose my ID, etc."

In the spirit of time, I opted to do this workout after work. However, 12 miles when you've slept about that many hours in the last 3 days -- not the best mix. Couple that with this nagging thirst for water for at least half the run, and it's probably clear why this workout went so poorly. Mid-run, I had to remind myself that I did the right thing by running, because "the sub-3 marathon isn't won on the couch." But then I couldn't help but doubt whether sub-3 will happen in Newport. And then...I just got in my head a little too much. And need to get out of my head.

Thurs
Planned: Rest or xt
Actual: 1 round of RYBQ 10x10 strength routine

Fri
Planned: LT 11 mi with 6 mi at 15K-half marathon race pace
Actual: LT 12.14 mi with 6 mi of speed (splits unknown because of Garmin issues), and 2x1' RYBQ SC

As much as I hate working out after work on Fridays (especially after a long week), I decided that an extra hour of sleep was worth the tradeoff.

Today's plan was to do 11 miles, with 6 at 15K-HMRP. So I did 3 miles as a warm-up, and then started my LT work. Shortly after my watch beeped for mile 1 of the LT portion (around Steel Bridge on the east side), I thought I heard a second beep. However, I thought that I was just hearing things because I knew it wasn't my watch telling me that I had run another mile. So I kept going, and as I approached the Hawthorne Bridge, looked at my watch because I figured that it should've beeped for mile 2 by then. Wouldn't you know that the damn Garmin was displaying the "Lost Satellite Reception" message, and hadn't logged the last mile (est.) of my speed work (#garminfail). I restarted my Garmin, reset it, and continued with the workout.

Long story short, this workout turned into 3 miles w/u, 2 mi speed, restart Garmin, 4 more mi speed, and 3 mi c/d. (And yes, in case anyone's wondering, later in my workout, I re-ran that stretch where my Garmin cut out to try to guess how far it was...and it was about a mile.)

Estimated speed splits: 7:14, 7:17 (for 1.08 mi; this was the wonky lap), 7:04, 6:56, 6:50, 6:59

These splits definitely fell short of my target pace of 6:45-6:48. But I know that I gave this workout everything I had, because I was spent by the time those 6 miles were up.

Sat
Planned: Recovery 5
Actual: 4.17 mi at 7:59/mi pace

Sun
Planned: Long run 16 mi
Actual: 16.01 mi at 8:12/mi pace

I didn't get to do all of my grocery shopping yesterday, and knew that it'd be best to wait until finishing that to go running. What I didn't take into account was the fact that the forecasted high for today was 70º. Between the higher-than-usual temperatures, my still-tight quads, and this annoying sinus congestion I've had the last few days, this run may have been doomed from the get-go. But I told myself I wasn't going to get any closer to my goal by shirking out of a run.

I hadn't really planned a route, but I wanted to make sure I passed my house multiple times in case I needed to stop for water. (I brought a pack of Clif Shot Blocks, just in case I needed mid-run fuel.) Also, breaking up the run like that made 16 miles seem more bearable. So I did one 6 mi loop, a different 6 mi loop, and a 4 mi loop.

Around mile 3 (the turnaround point for loop #1), I saw Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens, which makes the effort (and the hill that preceded said view) a little more worthwhile. Shortly thereafter, I saw a vanity plate with "TNA MLT" printed on it (somebody clearly loves their tuna melts), and suddenly, a tuna melt sounded amazing. Other food cravings on this run: chips and guac (inspired by my local taqueria, which I passed at miles 6 and 12), pita and hummus (inspired by Nicholas, which I passed at miles 7 and 13), and cupcakes (inspired by the guy I saw between miles 14 and 15, who was sitting in Whole Foods eating one). Also, even though I love curry/Indian food, the smell of it while running is absolutely nauseating.

I didn't end up stopping for water (though I probably should have). I ate half the pack of Shot Blocks at mile 8 (and they never tasted better), and the other half at mile 13. Yes, I toughed it out. But does the saying "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger?" ring true?

Planned total: 49 mi
Actual total: 49.45 mi

What mind games (if any) do you use to get yourself through a workout that you're not feeling?

Looking Down from Above

Have you ever spent months working on a big project, and felt burned out before the project even ended? Or drained and worn-out because of how much time you invested in it?

That's how I was feeling post-Eugene. Don't get me wrong, I love running. But between Eugene '12, Chicago '12, and Eugene '13, I've been in training mode for the last 16 months. And being in training mode for that long is just draining. (You like that rhyming there?? No? Alright, I'll just go in the corner and laugh to myself then.)

You know what else is taxing? Training for a goal and not meeting it. After missing the BQ (Boston Qualifying) standard in Eugene, my first thought was to sign up for a summer marathon so I could get one last chance to try to qualify for Boston '14 (the cutoff is in September). However, I felt that I needed a break before I could even think about starting training for another marathon. I wanted to get my head in the right place before I start the next round of training (which, in case anyone's wondering, it's the Marine Corps Marathon in October).

My time off from running allowed me to catch up on my life and wrap my head around the race. 

I finally went to First Thursday for the first time (after living here for a year and a half)...

A whole exhibit on chickens! Only in Portland... (Go watch the first episode of "Portlandia." I would post the clip, except it's unavailable on YouTube.)

Mural in the Pearl. Even on my break from running, I can't escape Pre!

I caught up with plenty of friends (which may or may not have entailed happy hour and brunch), and went to a fine Cinco de Mayo festival (just fine though -- what kind of CDM fiesta has Chinese food for sale??). I also worked on my thesis, which needed to happen because I hadn't devoted as much time to it as I should have due to marathon training.

I also wanted to take a step back to find out what I did wrong so I (hopefully) don't make the same mistakes in Marine Corps. After all, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."  Thank you all for your comments and advice! Would you believe that this was the first time I've ever taken a good, hard look at my running to see how I could improve?? Once I took a step back, I felt like I was on the roof of a building and getting an aerial view of the sport of running and my race history. And in a way, life in general.

-I had delayed runner's high. Not qualifying created a runner's low (if there is such a thing), but once I broke past that and started appreciating the PR, the runner's high set in. And to be honest, part of me is still amazed that I ran a 3:08 marathon.

-I have an issue with pacing. I get too excited at the start of the race, fly through the first half of the marathon, and then have to slow down in the second half. Steven had a wise suggestion for preventing this -- start in a slower corral.

-After reading Kat and Erin's comments on my fueling, I thought about my fueling strategy, and realized that it was quite flawed. For some brilliant reason, I thought that two gels (220 cals altogether) would be enough for 26.2 miles when I had been consuming that many calories on my 20-21 mile runs. Furthermore, I didn't consume anything in the final 10K, when I was probably in greatest need of glycogen.

-Runners typically prioritize the races on their calendars, and one way of doing so is by classifying them as A, B, or C races. The most important ones are A races, and the least important ones are C races. If I shell out money for a race, I want to do well in it, and so it becomes an A race. I know that after a marathon wears you out, it takes a while to get back to normal. For that reason, I don't schedule races for a few weeks post-marathon. (Except for free, untimed fun runs -- those are my C races.)

-Marathon training is like a job, in that it consumes a large amount of time. (Between warm-up stretching, running, cool-down stretching, foam rolling, long run planning, pre- and post-long run food prep, etc., I wouldn't be surprised if training took up at least 15 hours/week.) If you're going to perform your job to the best of your ability, you need some time off. I'm not talking about 1-2 rest days/week, because that's simply a weekend for the marathon training job. I'm talking about a full-fledged, leave-the-trainers-in-the-closet break that lasts multiple days. In a full-time job, you typically receive a block of paid time off that's meant to be used for recharging your batteries (or so that's my view). Why should marathon training be any different?

-More importantly, I concluded that I wanted to register for a summer marathon so I could have a do-over, and prove to everyone (but mainly myself) that I am capable of doing what they believe I can do. I thought that if I did that, then I could erase the sour memory that not qualifying at Eugene created. But  erasing the memory would mean erasing the whole experience. Maybe I didn't BQ. Maybe I spent the second half thinking that it was the worst race ever. But I set a new PR and learned so much from this race. And life isn't about erasing the bad events. It's about learning to take the bad with the good, and using both to become your best self.

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(I should confess that I ended my complete break from running on Saturday so I could join the Front Runners for their Saturday morning fun run. I hadn't been able to join them for a few weeks, and so it was nice to be able to return to the group. I kept the run to a conversational pace, and it felt good.)

The Mental Game

With less than a week to go until Eugene the Sequel, I can’t help but think about Race Day. I’m currently feeling a whole slew of emotions, and turning another year older isn’t helping that fact. (Yes, my birthday and Race Day are within a week of each other.)

I’m nervous because I want to qualify for the Boston Marathon, and shooting for such a lofty goal scares the shit out of me. Running 26.2 miles in 3:05 just seems hella fast. Yes, I know it’s only six minutes faster than my Chicago time, but entering “Club BQ” puts one in this different class of runners. Boston may have recently become synonymous with “tragedy” (no, we’re not discussing that topic right now, because the news and watching coverage for two days after the event depressed me to the point where I can’t handle following the situation), but to me, it still symbolizes “prestige,” “speed,” and “elite.” And the pedestal I’ve placed it on has made this goal seem so formidable.

What makes me even more nervous is that I feel like I have a real shot at it this time around, and I’m afraid of blowing it. During this training cycle, I’ve had a 15K and a half-marathon PR, and have logged more miles (and faster miles) than ever before. I’ve felt more support and encouragement during this training cycle than ever before (thank you, Twitter and dailymile). And while all of that excites/motivates me, I’m also worried that I’ll get overexcited on Race Day, start out way too quickly, and then burn out in the second half. (This is one of my goats.)

I’ve also put more emphasis on diet during this training cycle. I’ve tried to clean up my diet by eating more whole (i.e., plant-based) foods and drinking less alcohol. And up until a few weeks ago, I’d like to think that I did a fairly good job of that. Then, I had one of my best friends from NYC visit me, which involved drunch, wine tasting, and enough sugary treats to make us call her visit “Diabetes Weekend”.

Drunch. Regular mimosa for her, grapefruit mimosa for me.

Wine and cheese party at home. (This may or may not have been a daily event for us.)

Moonstruck desserts. (Hey, Moonstruck's a Portland staple. Gotta check it out while visiting!)

Columbia Gorge Wine Tasting event. 

After that, I fled to SoCal to visit friends and family, which, so far, has involved drunches, wine tasting, and loads of dairy and sugar. (We seem to use alcohol and sugar to bond.) Long story short, I’m just worried that these last few weeks of poor food choices have screwed me over.

I’m freaked out, and when I get freaked out, I feel ready to jump out of my skin. Such urges make me want to run, which would be good and well if I weren’t in the midst of tapering. It’s times like these I wish I had another means to deal with my emotions. (Writing can be effective, except I’m barely making any sense to me, so I can’t imagine that I’m making sense to anyone else.)

I need to stop psyching myself out. I’m excited to race because I feel like this is the culmination of 16 weeks of hard work. I’m especially excited because I’ll have some incredible friends running and watching. And while it makes me incredibly nervous, the goal of qualifying for Boston fires me up. Plus, the weather forecast currently looks great (knock on wood).

What I’m realizing is that taper mode is when the training focus shifts (or should shift) from the physical aspects of racing to the mental aspects. At this point, I’ve done everything that I can do to get ready for this marathon. As we’ve established, I’m happy with how my training has gone. But now, I need to calm myself down so I don’t let my nerves get the best of me. For that, I have a few sayings:

-“Keep calm and rock the f*$& out.” (Thank you, Erin for that one.)

-“You got this.” (I’ve read that using “you” in a mantra is more effective than using “I” because it makes you feel like someone’s alongside you providing support.)

-“Let’s make the most of tonight, like we’re gonna die young.” (Thank you, Ke$ha. Your songs may be ridiculous, but they are catchy, and this one helped get me to a sub-1:30 half-marathon.) 

If You Can Dream It...

Recently, I told one of my PFR teammates about the Kaiser Half (aka, Operation 1:30), and he asked me about the sub-3:00 marathon. Running sub-3 is on my bucket list, but I've thought of it as a secondary goal to the elusive BQ. (It seems less scary/more feasible if I make 3:05 my "A" goal, and make 3:00 my "A" goal for a future race.) After Operation 1:30, I started wondering if 2013 could be my year to do it. Still, I erred on the side of conservatism and figured I should stick to my original plan.

Fast forward to this morning. It’s the end of the term, and to top it off, I have thesis deadlines looming. To say that I’m stressed is a bit of an understatement. (On a scale of 1-10, I’m currently ranging anywhere from 9-15, and have had about 7 "I'm losing it" moments in 24 hours. But that's another story.) Naturally, these were the main things on my mind when I set out for my 5M run this morning. After about 2 miles, I decided to ignore my Garmin and just run. (I’ve run the route dozens of times and know how long it is.) Somewhere along the Eastbank Esplanade, my thoughts drifted away from my thesis and to the sub-3 marathon. Which led me to wonder, “Would it be crazy if I tried to do that in Eugene?” 

I ended my entry on dailymile with “Am I crazy here for thinking about running a BQ-5 when I haven’t BQed yet?” A few hours later, my friend Erin commented with some very encouraging words and advice. Her advice: “If your fitness indicators point to that as a capability right now, man, don’t think twice...particularly if everything is right on race day.” 

For the analysis (because I'm a math nerd, and clearly, analyzing data for a thesis project wasn't enough), I decided to look up race time predictors, and make a prediction based on the Kaiser Half (that’s my most recent race). I’ve used McMillan’s before, but wanted something else to serve as a comparison, so I found the Runner’s World Race Times Predictor. Based on that race time, McMillan predicted a marathon time of 3:06:17, and Runner’s World predicted a time of 3:04:33.

Okay, so that points to about a 3:05. But based on a 10K time from September (on a fairly downhill course), it told me I'd run Chicago (which was 4 weeks later) in 3:18, which was 7 minutes slower than my actual time. 

Compared to previous marathons, my training has felt really good. I'm not sure what my sweet spot was before, but now, it seems to be around 40 miles/week (based on my last few weeks of 38-45 miles/week). So long story short, predictions look good, and it's possible to beat estimates.

And now onto the mental portion (because as I've learned, there's a big mental game involved with racing). Do I think it's possible? Yes. Does the thought of running sub-3 scare me shitless? You bet. But the thought of crossing that goal off of my life's to-do list is nothing short of exciting. And as Walt Disney once said, "If you can dream it, you can do it."

Erin also sent me this fine graphic from the SF Marathon's Pinterest board: 

Sidenote: She only had a vague idea of how freaked out I was/am when she sent this. We're obviously on the same wavelength.

As I type this, I'm recalling my conversation with Erin, where she expressed hesitation about her goal, and I basically said to just go for it. Maybe now's the time for me to eat my words and say, "Fuck it; I'm doing this shit."

What are your thoughts?