#red marathon

[marathonmary]

Sunday is the Big Day. Sunday I race the Red Marathon and we'll see if months of training will pay off in a Boston Qualifying time.

I've been nervous and a little skeptical of my own fitness the last couple of weeks, but encouraging words from my friends yesterday instigated a dream last night that's made me feel better about the whole thing.

Usually my race dreams involve arriving late or getting lost on the course, failing spectacularly to do my best.

Last night my dream was short and simple: I was running through the finishers chute feeling on top of the world. I ran a good time, I wasn't in pain, and I had the confident feeling that I had done my best and it was enough.

That was a good dream.

[marathonmary]

Ding ding ding!

That's the PR bell ladies and gentlemen!

Marathon #12 was kicked in 3:45:20! I blew my last PR Out of the water by 12 minutes, and that was from when I was fresh out of college with no job and all the time in the world to train. Younger Me can't touch this!

My tribe was there for race weekend, and I ran in the same pace group as one of my teammates. We didn't talk at all. We barely ran side by side. At most we shared a sideways glance and a thumbs up around mile 10. It was beautiful.

Now I'm resting up and working on getting fat for the holidays. Training will start up in the new year, but for now I'm gonna relax and recharge. Shaving off 12 minutes was good, but I'm still far from where I want to be.