You have the voice of an angel. Your voice is like a combination of Fergie and Jesus...

Well it finally came, the "less than 2 week mark." Honestly I can't believe that 10/10/10 is only 13 days away. Back when I did the Rock n Roll Half-Marathon, the 2 week mark had me absolutely loosing my mind. I was nervous, anxious, sweaty (always sweaty i guess), worried, [insert synonym for nervous here] that I was not going to perform. In the end I had a pretty good race, started out a little fast but recovered and achieved my goal of running under 1:29 (i ran 1:27:36 if you don't remember). This time I am actually feeling pretty confident that I have put in the work and will be prepared when the gun fires. Now that being said, I have my moments of utter panic. For example, Friday I printed out the race map at the office and posted it in my cubicle. Now I've seen the map before and it didn't look too scary... but that was before I understood the scale of the map. When I saw just how far 13.1 was on the race course, lets just say my heart started pumping a little bit faster. I ran for 3 hours straight a few weeks ago, not at pace, and after a heavy training week, but I still started freaking out when I looked at the map as the actual distance. It's freakin far. But by Saturday I felt much better about things. I only did a 16 mile run, with heavy winds, but was at pace most of the time and tried to use visualization when I started either getting bored or tired. Luckily I have a vivid imagination and can put myself in a state of mind that will help me perform when I have no reason to perform at a high level (ie during training). Sometimes I think about being at the 20 mile mark, deep in the hurt locker (a term i don't like using as much since the movie came out... does the "pain pool" sound more unique? or the "uh-oh attic" i like that...) and needing to keep myself up with the pace group. Other times I go back to moments in my rowing career that I was either really proud of, or on the other hand, times when I failed and needed just a tad extra. The best way I can describe the feeling of when visualization works, is as an adrenaline shot without the needle to the heart (ie nic cage in "the rock" as the other dudes face melts off and for some reason an adrenaline shot to the heart keeps an airborne biological weapon from mr cage losing his face... "i'm going to take my face... off" sorry... just referencing to somewhat good but definitely terrible movies with nic cage). My heart starts pumping, my legs feel a little lighter, and I can find another gear (cliche sorry) to shift into for a few extra mph's. That obviously doesn't last long, but it can get me back into a sustainable rhythm in the off chance I lose it because of wind/hills/other runners in the way/exhaustion. When the ka-ka really hits the fan, I really don't think about visualizing rowing is going to help me at all. When that happens, and it will, I'm going to think of why I am doing this, why I set such a high goal, and think of all the people who can't do what I'm doing because of cancer. Some people ask me why would I want to do a marathon, whats "fun" about training everyday, giving up weekends, and wrecking yourself on a weekly basis? There are thousands of people that would give anything to be able to run a marathon, that never got the chance to "cross it off their bucket list" because cancer took them too soon. I can't discover the cure for cancer, and I can't help someone get through chemo treatments or surgeries, but I have been given the ability to help raise money that can be given to people that can do those things. Maybe having a personal goal for time is somewhat selfish of me, because this isn't about the time, but about the money we raise to help the American Cancer Society. But I think that dragging my child bearing hips across the line in under 3 hours, may encourage some people to donate purely out of pity for me... and if that's the case... donate double!

Checking out for now... 2 weeks... morning practices start everyday now to prepare for the race being at 730. Some of you may be new to reading, we are very close to $2000 (there is $550 not shown on the counter on the top right) with your help we have a good shot at hitting $3000 by 10/10/10! Please donate if you can.... "Slingshot.... engage" -Ricky Bobby