13 Days Until the Marathon. . .

Can you believe it? I can't. I feel like I have been training for the marathon forever, and now it is less than two weeks away. I decided to run this race in October 2007, and more than a year later, I am actually still committed to doing it. Although I have always wanted to complete a marathon, I never truly believed that I would actually do it. That's why I decided to run White Rock to raise money for Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. When I set a goal to raise $2,500 for the hospital, I wasn't sure I would be able to get it done. However, my wonderful friends and family came through for me and helped me exceed my goal and raise $2,750! Of course, as I have said several times before, I love the hospital. However, my fundraising is definitely not a selfless act. It is hard not to run the race when all of my friends and family have donated their hard-earned money to sponsor me in the marathon. Talk about motivation.

Despite all I have read about the importance of tapering before a marathon, I am definitely still concerned that I am not prepared for what I am about to do to my body. I recently read an article in Runner's World about a father (who was a very experienced marathoner) and his son (who was running his first) who ran the New York City Marathon together. As they trained (separately) for the race, the father would send e-mails to his son reminding him to "respect the distance." I hope that I have respected this distance. By that I mean that I hope that I can finish this race and want to do another one someday. I hope that I have respected it enough to remain addicted to this sport. I hope that I have found something in running that motivates me when I don't have money donated from friends and family to motivate me. I hope that I have a strong finish and that I am able to stand and have a photo taken at the finish line.

Now that I am so close to the marathon and in my taper phase, I am thankful to have my new job. It has kept me focused and distracted over the last few weeks, and I am grateful for that. My job is also providing a great distraction this week -- I get to go to San Francisco with my co-workers on Thursday, Friday & Saturday for a continuing legal education course. What makes it even more fun is that David gets to go with me. Hopefully I will be sufficiently distracted but have enough time for 1 or 2 short runs with David. David and I were able to run together twice over the holiday weekend, and it was really nice. We ran ten miles together yesterday, and I actually mean together. Usually, "together" means we leave the house at the same time, David takes off, and then we meet up at the house after the run is over. We actually ran side-by-side for 10 miles yesterday. We didn't say much to one another, but it was nice to spend the time together, especially since we have been apart a lot over the past few weeks.

I am looking forward to another good week and a nice trip to San Francisco. I will try to post again before I leave, but if I run out of time, I will definitely post photos from our trip when I get back into town.