Run the Race You're Given
About 24 hours to go and here we are, enjoying a relaxing day of. . . relaxing. Going to be staying off our feet today and just hanging out.
Had a good day yesterday and everything went as planned. Headed into McCormick Place mid-morning to the Health & Fitness Expo and picked up our bags and timing chips. We walked around the Expo and bought a few things; hat for me and some running shirts for Jen. Nothing we'll wear tomorrow but we got some good deals.
It was definitely motivating to be in the company of so many marathoners. Many, undoubtedly, getting ready for their first marathon and filled with anxiety, excitement and uncertainty about what's to come. Others, like us, in that strange position of facing their second marathon; strange in that we know what's to come and feel confident in our training but still filled with some of that inevitable self-doubt about what's going to happen.
A good friend of mine recently sent me an e-mail with some great last-minute things to think about before the marathon. One sentence really hit me and it was this: "You don't get to run the race you want. You get to run the race you are given." That's been in my head for the last several days and it's having a nice calming effect.
It's going to be hot tomorrow and it's probably going to alter our race plan. But, you know what, I think I'm OK with that. We've trained hard, had some great runs and had some crappy runs. We know we can do this. No matter what happens, we'll make it across the finish line tomorrow. Will it be the time we want? I certainly hope so. If it's not, we'll keep in mind that old adage that applies to 99 percent of marathoners out there; the ultimate goal is to finish.
That's the true purpose of running a marathon and, from that, comes the true satisfaction.
Had a good day yesterday and everything went as planned. Headed into McCormick Place mid-morning to the Health & Fitness Expo and picked up our bags and timing chips. We walked around the Expo and bought a few things; hat for me and some running shirts for Jen. Nothing we'll wear tomorrow but we got some good deals.
It was definitely motivating to be in the company of so many marathoners. Many, undoubtedly, getting ready for their first marathon and filled with anxiety, excitement and uncertainty about what's to come. Others, like us, in that strange position of facing their second marathon; strange in that we know what's to come and feel confident in our training but still filled with some of that inevitable self-doubt about what's going to happen.
A good friend of mine recently sent me an e-mail with some great last-minute things to think about before the marathon. One sentence really hit me and it was this: "You don't get to run the race you want. You get to run the race you are given." That's been in my head for the last several days and it's having a nice calming effect.
It's going to be hot tomorrow and it's probably going to alter our race plan. But, you know what, I think I'm OK with that. We've trained hard, had some great runs and had some crappy runs. We know we can do this. No matter what happens, we'll make it across the finish line tomorrow. Will it be the time we want? I certainly hope so. If it's not, we'll keep in mind that old adage that applies to 99 percent of marathoners out there; the ultimate goal is to finish.
That's the true purpose of running a marathon and, from that, comes the true satisfaction.
posted by W.S. Wuori at 9:13 AM
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