Final Thoughts

Well folks, the time has arrived. 

Tomorrow morning is THE DAY.

I will be running my first half marathon and, as you all know, I've felt a lot of varying emotions leading up to this point. The best emotion happened today though- EXCITEMENT!!

Chris and I drove to the XL Center to pick up our race packets and walk around the expo (can we say SWAG heaven?!) I snagged a bunch of Gu, a spibelt, some awesome Larabars and tons of other stuff. The whole atmosphere was just intoxicating and I loved every minute of it.

We also drove the race course so we could see what we have in store for us tomorrow. I have to say that the course is gorgeous and it seems like a pretty good race. Not too many drastic inclines, thank goodness! As we were finishing up our drive of the course, my phone rang with some even more exciting news! The amazingly wonderful people at ING had sent out an email a few months ago asking people to submit their stories about why they were running, so I submitted mine. Apparently ING loved the story and got in touch with my local paper who then decided to do a human interest piece on me! SWEET! So, the phone call was from a reporter who did a rather in depth phone interview about myself, my training, my running for my mother, etc etc. Then, they sent a photographer over to my house later in the day to do an hour long photo shoot of myself and my mom. CRAZY!!! So, supposedly the story is going to run tomorrow! I am beyond thrilled! It's so flattering to know that people actually care about what I'm doing, you know? I mean, take all of you readers for example, what would I do without all of your advice and support?! You guys are the best!

Anyway, I had a lengthy conversation with Kurt @ Becoming an Ironman (he's running the full marathon to my half) and we discussed water stations, GU choices, hydration techniques, etc etc. He got me super pumped and I feel a bit better about running tomorrow. I truly feel like it's going to be an amazing experience.

However, in the slight case that I do not cross the finish line, I am leaving my last will and testament here so there should be no questions about who gets what.

Final Will and Testament of Kristin

I, Kristin, do hereby leave all my worldly running belongings as so stated below/.

My various running skirts (sparkly and non-sparkly) to the following people:
Amy @ Pumpkin to Princess
Wells L @ My Story... Chapter 2
Stephanie @ Running to Health

My awesome pink running shoes go to Chelsea (as I know she fully appreciates their awesomeness).

I leave my hefty collection of GU gels, Chomps, and Brews to the following people:
Kurt @ Becomin an Ironman

MrsQ @ A Duck on the Run
Vanessa @ Gourmet Runner

Everyone else can pick over what is left (sunglasses, iPod case, ear buds, compression sleeves, so on and so forth). All I ask is that you please be gentle with my destroyed body as you shove it aside on the road to pass me.

In all seriousness though, I'm psyched for tomorrow and I can't wait to get there and blast this race out of the water! It's going to be amazing! Wish me luck everyone! And good luck to everyone else who has a race this weekend!

Anticipation

Today's emotion of the day is Antici.....

...........pation!

(See what I did there? Made you anticipate the end of the word. Genius, right? Bonus points if you can catch the musical movie reference I stole that from)

Source

*Ahem*  Moving right along....

Anticipation [an-tis-uh-pey-shuhn]: Noun.  

1. Realization in advance; foretaste, 2. expectation or hope.

I am FULL of anticipation about this race. I keep wondering about weather conditions, the race course, the fans on the side, what the medal is going to look like, if I can keep up with one of the pace coaches or if I should just go my own, how my stomach is going to do, if I can make it up the hills, will I need a medic, will I be the last one to finish, can I actually DO this? Ahhh! So many things to think about! But, despite any negative thoughts that sometimes pop into my head, I also anticipate crossing the finish line and having an overwhelming sense of pride and accomplishment. My finish goal is 4 hours. I know a lot of people who finish in 3 hours or so... I don't care. I'm aiming for 4 hours. If it takes less time, power to me, but I want to set a reachable goal for myself. 

I'm also trying to decide if I should run with or without a watch on. Sometimes I feel like having the watch on is helpful because I can work a pace and time how long my walk/run breaks are, but then other times I feel like I'm utterly chained to my watch and timing myself. Double -edged sword I guess. Any thoughts on that? I know you're not supposed to change anything up for race day, but it's a thought I'm playing around with for right now. 

Going back to my emotion of the day- my feeling of anticipation seems to be a positive emotion as well. I picture myself crossing the finish line, and beating my 4 hour goal. I just have to hold onto this feeling and not let fear/doubt/anxiety creep in come race day.

Oh! And in answer to Kurt's question on my last post, yes, I will be running with music on. I will only have one headphone bud in, but I want to have my own music because I've learned what songs pump me up the most. Maybe in another year or so I can learn to run sans music, but for right now, I feel it's a good option for me.