Getting ready for the big show

I ran my last tempo run today. I short 3 miler @ 8:14. It was beautiful. Everything came together and made the last official workout of the marathon training cycle perfect; it was a cool but sunny afternoon, the air was crisp, my legs felt fresh and strong, my mind was clear and focused. The premarathon anxiety has dissipated for the most part. I still feel nervous at times, but I am mostly excited. I am going to be part of an amazing collective experience, and I am ready for it. I am going to embrace whatever the race will bring, including the pain, nausea and queasiness inherent in running well. I am going to run smart and I am going to run hard. But mostly, I am going to enjoy the experience.

Back in January when I started training, I set several goals for the marathon. These goals have not changed.

A. Get to the finish line healthy.
Fear of injury was what kept me away from running a marathon during the past 3 years, when I became "serious" about running and switched identity from a "jogger" to a "runner/racer".
The 2 stress fractures I had after a series of hard races where a function of this transition from running easy to running hard, which my mind needed time to wrap around. It was also a function of being uneducated about running smart, running schedules, crosstraining, strength training, etc. But live and learn, and I surely learned a lot from these experiences.
I have trained smart for this marathon. I made a few mistakes, pushing a bit too hard at times, but following a schedule and crosstrainig allowed me to recover and get stronger and faster, without breaking my body down.

B. Finish the marathon
26.2 miles are intimidating. Although I have trained hard, the reality is that I have never ran 26.2 miles. I don't know what it's going to be like to run over 23 miles, or over 20 miles at a faster pace, because I have never done it. Reading about others' experiences helps, but it is not the same as going through it. For me, just finishing would be a huge accomplishment.

C. Finish in less than 4 hours.
OK. I have trained for an 8:23 pace. I have done this because the schedules for the slower paces
seemed too easy for me. However, I am not even going to try to get close to that pace for this marathon. Boston is hard, and I am going to run it conservatively. There will be other flatter races for faster times.

D. Finish in 3:45 or less and qualify
I know I should be able to run the race at an 8:35 pace. My last long run was an 8:29, and it did not feel hard at all. The hills did not leave my out of breath. I think this is a realistic goal, but it will depend on how things come together on race day (weather, adrenaline, gi, etc).

I have also raised over $3000 for pediatric cancer research at MGH. My dad died of lung cancer and I will be running this race for him. I work at MGH and I think it is one of the greatest hospitals; I am amazed at how brilliant the people I work with are, and how stimulated my mind is by just being in such an environment. I have never raised money before, and I have learned a great deal from this experience. At times I felt a little "unworthy" of running the Boston marathon because I did not run a marathon before or qualified. However, I really believe that raising this amount of money was a qualifying marathon in of itself - the time, energy, planning, organizing, juggling, worrying, "running" around - and I am glad to be able to contribute in this way to such an important cause. I will no doubt run for MGH again, hopefully as a qualified runner:)

Good luck to all running Boston or another race this weekend!