The final countdown

I started this blog almost three years ago with one goal in mind: run the Mississauga Marathon in May of 2010. I find it hard to believe that May of 2010 is upon us, and in six days, I am actually going to (attempt to) meet that goal by running the marathon on Sunday. Talk about stick-to-it-iveness! (Yeah, that's not a word…)

I can't say I've been the most successful blogger in all of this, as I seem to have had a bit of trouble updating regularly. Whoops! It's definitely a peril of being a professional writer… by the time my work writing is done, I have no more time for personal writing. Luckily, with my new job, I have a weekly editor's blog I update regularly (at www.primacy.ca), so there have been a few running-related posts over there.

What I can say, though, is that as far as reaching the actual marathon goal goes, I have been far more successful. While there are no guarantees I will actually finish the race, I'm choosing to think positively and that I will finish, even if it takes me six hours.

But I think what I'm really still amazed at is that I actually followed through with this whole thing. It took almost three years and three 5K races, three 10Ks, a 10-miler, three half marathons and one 30K race, but I managed to go from barely being able to run to running for 3+ hours straight. Yeah, that seems crazy, even to me.

Since the "actual" marathon training began in January, I have not missed a single run on my training plan either. There were a few I had to postpone, but I somehow fit in every single run. Not bad for a mother of two with two jobs, a house and a husband! There were a lot of 5:30 a.m. runs and a lot of juggling, but I managed to fit it all in, along with three strength training/pilates classes a week. So you see, there really IS time to exercise… I even found time for those big, long 2+ hour runs. It wasn't always easy, but it was doable.

So how am I going to do on Sunday? Honestly, I have no idea. Realistically, I think 4:30 is a good time for me for my first marathon. While I don't have a time goal per se (my goal is really just to finish), I think that I would be a teensy bit disappointed if I didn't make it in 4:30. I managed to do the 30K Around the Bay in 2:46, so that gives me a lot of time to slow down and bit and make sure I make it another 12 kilometres. If I had to choose a "dream" time, I'd say around 4:15. (Remember that to qualify for Boston in my age category, I'd have to do it in 3:45… so taking into account that 3:45 is kind of the high water mark for us "average" runners, I think these times are pretty realistic.)

But all this thinking about time has got me thinking about a bunch of other numbers that come into play. Here's what I've learned about running a marathon, by the numbers:

Number of:

Pairs of running shoes: 9
Races entered: 10
Water belts: 3
Water bottles: 11
Pounds of weight lifted 3x a week: 20 (10 per dumbbell)
Kms run since January, 2010: 945.5 (with only 14.5 left to go until race day!)
Times I've puked: 3
Times I've cried: 2 (only twice! Once after my first half, once after Around the Bay)
Times I've imagined myself crossing the finish line: infinity

Yes, it's been a long, hard journey, but ultimately, it's one I'm glad I've done. I learned more about myself during this training than I think I have in my whole life. I think it's made me a calmer person – more relaxed, happier and a better mother and wife than I was before I started this journey.

What's next? I've actually decided NOT to decide on anything just yet. I want to wait and see how Sunday goes before making my next move. It could be anything… I might decide to do a half marathon this fall, I might try power walking a race again, I might take a break from running and get back into spinning, Tread Powerfully and try out some yoga… or I might even decide to try another marathon this fall. But whatever I choose, I won't make a decision until after the marathon.

Six more days to go…

Happy trails…