Ready or Not, Here We Run!

Text message thread from today with Remick classmate:

Friend: You're going Thursday to the ACE thing, right?

Me: I can't go anymore. I had to change my flight.

Friend: Oh boy, where are you going?

Me: California for the ACE Marathon :)

Friend: Ohhhhh, right. OMG, I can't believe that's here already.

Me: You're telling me.

And later, this conversation:

Roommate: You're gone all weekend?

Me: Yep, California...for the marathon.

Roommate: Are you ready?

Me: Haha. I hope so.

Roommate: I can't believe it's already here.

Me: You can say that again.

This school year has gone by so incredibly fast, especially since turning the corner on 2019. The marathon isn't the only thing that crept up on me surprisingly fast - my birthday, other people's birthdays, each new trimester. It feels like I'm living in fast forward...and everything starts to blur together. Yet, I don't feel rushed or uneasy or pressed for time, for the most part. On the contrary, I've found myself to be very much at peace since the start of the school year (and especially since the start of Lent thanks to a few prayer practices I've taken up).

Still, the marathon is here. My body feels good. My training (running and biking-wise) has been consistent and solid, even though most of it has been indoors (including many of my long weekend runs). Some mornings I literally have to give myself a pep talk to roll out of bed at 4:45am, but if I don't go to the gym first thing I won't end up going at all, as there is usually some kind of evening commitment or entertainment multiple days in any given week. I've learned over the years that there are no shortcuts in training for long races - cutting corners makes race day less than what anyone could hope for. 

In college, when my sister and I ran our first marathon at Disney, the friends/mentors we ran with advised us to make three goals: 1) finish, 2) realistic time, & 3) ideal time. In thinking about this marathon and how I've done in the past, my three goals are the following: 1) Finish the race; 2) Realistic = Finish in under 4 hours; and 3) Ideal = Finish in under 3:50:00 (as the last marathon was 3:50:51). I'd love to PR, of course, but it all depends on factors like weather, health, temps, and if I can finally run a marathon when I kick it the last mile. (I've really failed at this in the past, but in my training this time I've worked on always finishing strong, so I hope that helps!)

No matter how the race turns out, the weekend (and trip to CA) will be worth it - we'll be celebrating with current and past ACErs, Fr. Lou is coming to celebrate the Mass, I am meeting up with one of my ACE housemates who lives in San Jose, and I am hanging out post-marathon with one of my Remick classmates who lives in San Francisco. 

My heart is so ready for this!