Chance of a Lifetime - Joellyn

Things have been crazy lately with the race fast approaching. I have not be running as long or as much, trying to give my legs a break. It’s weird to not run over 16 miles on the weekend now, I feel a little lost. Everyday I have an urge to run because I think I have to. It’s what I have done for four months and it will be a hard mental habit to break. I will never stop running just not as much.

We are days away from the race and I can’t wait. Everyone wants to know if I’m ready? Well, it has been a long four months of training. I can honestly say that I have put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into preparing for this moment. I have run who knows how many miles and gone through two pairs of sneakers. I have had to sacrifice family time to do my long runs. I have missed nights out with my friends because I had a race the next day. I cut back on classes for school so I could accommodate my running schedule. I have trained in 10 degree weather and now 70 degree weather. My body has taken a beating and I would do it all over again. The chance of a lifetime is days away and I couldn’t me more ready.

The Final Stretch!! - Angela

Well this has been quite a journey for me and I am very grateful for all of the family and friend support as I trained for the honor of running in the Boston Marathon. I can’t say that this has been easy but I will say that when you set your mind to something and your determined to follow through it is amazing what you can accomplish. As I reflect back to when I was first notified that my name was picked to run, I was very excited. Although I just completed a marathon a couple of months prior and I hadn’t completely recovered, I knew that this was an opportunity of a lifetime and I would do whatever it took to train for it. I am sure that there are many stories on why and how people are running the Marathon and all of the challenges they faced during their training. My training and challenges do not even compare. But I will say that without the support of my husband who continues to encourage me I probably would not have come this far. So in closing, I want to wish all the fellow runners good luck on Monday. Pray for great weather! Get lots of rest this week and remember mind over matter – If you don’t mind it won’t matter…

Final Two Weeks - Danielle

I started out last week hoping to run my last long run on Monday. I woke up that morning and quickly realized that my legs felt a bit tired, not sure from what though. I still set out as usual and as I expected, my long run turned into a shorter, 14.5-mile run. I was somewhat disappointed and looking at the week ahead, I had no time to re-attempt the long run until Sunday. I felt somewhat defeated but planned to try again Sunday. I told my woes to my friends at work and of course by the end of the day, I had gotten words of encouragement and reinforcement. I definitely left feeling much better than I did arriving.

Like Joellyn, I am having some regular dreams (or should I say nightmares) about the Marathon. I have had the "I can't get to the starting line, no matter how hard I try" dream. I've had the "I can't find my sneakers or number the day of the race" dream. I have also had the "I grab the
wrong sneakers the day of the race" dream. So needless to say, the psychological aspect of the run is in full swing!

I managed to squeeze in nine miles Thursday and let my legs rest until Sunday. I set out to run a long run early that morning and did 21.3 miles. That felt good under my belt so to speak. As I ran, I thought of how many miles my sneakers had run, where they had run and what I had seen. The country roads are horrible, I've seen many hills - up and down, I've seen cows, horses, goats; I've seen a lot of "road kill" including a tail of what likely was attached to a squirrel at one time. I've run by manure piles...need I say more. And let's not forget the several stormings of random unleashed dogs. I've returned home with the bottom of my sneakers smelling worse that my daughter's shin guards (and let me tell you, those things smell bad)! All in all, I would say it has been a good journey, interesting, but good.

My week ended in a farewell to my physical therapist. The facility was shut down permanently on Friday. I was sad to leave having a few weeks until the Marathon but Justin has done me well. I ran the miles and he helped me build the "hard body" to endure them. My last request before I left was for he and I to do planks together. He agreed to be a good sport!

So in the final two weeks before the Marathon, I'm going to keep moving and taper as planned. I'll be praying for no major changes in the weather as well.