13.1

I am running 13.1 miles on March 18, 2012. That is 13 days from today. 13 point 1 miles. Holy cow. The farthest I've run is a 15K (which is 9.3 miles) and I thought I was going to die. Thank goodness I'm in much better shape now. My biggest fear is not finishing. You have to at least keep a 15 minute per mile pace. They have a group of people who will be maintaining that speed the entire race- if you fall behind them then you can't run on the road anymore & have to use the sidewalk. Which means you can still finish- just not on the road. My goal is keeping around 11 minutes per mile. I think is I'll be comfortable with that. I hope. I am terrified to say the least. This has been a *constant* goal of mine since Hazel was born 2 years ago. I have talked about it, dreamt about it, & thought about it for 2 years constantly and now my dream is about to become a reality. But only if I finish. I can't imagine my disappointment and heart ache if I don't finish. So to put it simply, I don't care if I am crawling with the most intense cramps of my life: I will finish this race. I will cross the finish line with a smile on my face! I can't wait for that feeling of accomplishment. I will have accomplished my dream! But then what? I am totally not ready for a full marathon and right now I don't even have the desire to run that far. I think 13.1 will be my farthest running distance. I would love to get more into triathlons. I need a road bike to make that happen but I think that would be so fun. Just for a change of pace. I love running, don't get me wrong. But I think 6 miles is when I am feeling my best and I'm not overly tired. 6 miles is comfortable for me. I will be more than doubling that in 13 days.

To say the least, it is constantly on my mind and will be until I cross the finish line. So I probably won't be blogging much until then because I seriously doubt you guys want to read about how anxious, nervous, excited, and worried I am!