My marathon training schedule had three 20-milers on it and I’ve successfully finished two of them, which means I’m two weeks to taper and the season is quickly coming to a close. The best part is that at the end of both of my 20 mile runs I could have kept going (make no mistake…I was very happy that I didn’t have to) so the last 6.2 miles seem a little less daunting. I was also right on pace for a 4 hour race during both runs. Trust me, my main goal is to finish strong, but it would be nice to do it quickly too (I’m really looking forward to drinking hanging out with my cheering squad after it’s all over).

I’m ready to run this marathon and take a breath. I’ve been having a difficult time staying on top of everything in my life. My registrar duties, marathon training, household stuff, parenting responsibilities, and diabetes management have stretched me to my breaking point and I feel like I’m failing miserably at all of them. I had to let something go and unfortunately it’s been blogging (which is also my super-cheap therapy so I’m going slightly crazy at the moment).

Running used to make me happy. Now it’s more of a chore. Maybe after this marathon is over I can go back to running for enjoyment and throw the schedule out of the window. I’m planning on focusing on a spring half marathon, and I’ve made all of my training buddies promise to hold me to my swearing off of another marathon for at least a year. There’s something about crossing the finish line of a marathon…it makes you forget all of the things you swore you’d never put yourself through again during your grueling training season.

I turn 29 on Thursday and Kyle turns 32 on Sunday so this is birthday week around here. Plans are in the works for securing tickets to the Browns vs. Steelers game on Sunday, which will probably get us into trouble, but it will be fun as hell, and I could really use some fun right now….