"Effort is effort, you have to try hard if you want to do hard things" -Alex Honnold

Today I ran my last official training run in my 18 weeks of Marathon training before the weekend of races begins. Many years ago I was talking about running a marathon and my Dad said, "You can fake a half, you can't fake a whole." I've held on to this because I spent much of my earlier running years half-ass training, not typically running anything over 7 miles, or consistently, for half marathons. I think I've always enjoyed challenging myself to do hard things, and running 13.1 miles unprepared was a challenge! However, I always paid for it after the race and would be miserable and SO stiff and sore, with missing toenails. 

Now I've gotten older, wiser(?) and have met some super amazing, inspirational people who push me to do even harder things. In the beginning of the year I joined River Valley Running Race Team. This has been one of the best things I've ever done in my life. I have made some really great friends and the feeling you get being around people who have a similar interests is unbeatable. I have been introduced to trail racing, completed a 15k Tough Mudder and ran countless races since joining the team. 

I spent the spring training for 2 half marathons, then jumped right into marathon training in the beginning of June. I spent the next 18 weeks canceling all other plans and turned all of my weekends into long runs with races thrown in. I skipped sleeping in on the weekends too many times to get up early to get my long runs in. I also slept in on weekends, and paid for it by having to run in the heat, humidity and sun to get runs done. I've ran alone and with groups of people. I listened to music, podcasts and the sounds of nature. I ran through the pouring rain, puddles, mud and bolted from areas with no overhead coverage to avoid lighting. I got locked in bathrooms and ran to a pancake breakfast. I've poured buckets of sweat all summer long while others stayed comfy in air conditioning. For 6ish weeks I had strep throat and a major sinus infection, that only slowed my training a touch, but I kept at it. I say these things because I've put SO much work into this training, and I'm really proud of myself for it!! I've had the best summer ever:) I'm super excited for this weekend and my first ever, non-faking it, Marathon, now the work is done, time to collect my medal :)