Waiting the week out

This time next Sunday I'd have finished with this whole kerfuffle. 

I'm filled ith anxieties:have I trained enough? eaten enough? recovered enough? slept enough? Overall, the current win is succeeding at making the mornings not only bearable, but actually enjoyable. For this I had to let go of late night reading with wine after the kids' bedtime.. This is something I really miss. 

 I have been agonising over what sort of marathon will my body and mind do next Sunday. 

 Will everything come together and stay together and I'll be able to get a good time for a first timer?

 How will the experience be after km30? I've never ran more than 30km at once. 

Will it matter (I hope so) that everyone is going the same way, no stopping at shops to buy water, or stopping at traffic lights, or look at map?

 Will I feel overwhelmed or in machine mode in my element? 

 I have decided to video log every 10km or when something interesting happens, but I won't do that if/when I hit my cruising rhythm and it feels good. 

 

 Things I've learnt until now:

 - stopping/pausing (for whatever reasons) makes starting again so so much harder. To be avoided at all costs (apart from for water, toilet, some itch somewhere, some stretch somewhere). 

- going slowly is a way of being when running. I personally find it excruiciatingly boring for more than 30mins unless mind is in an audiobook, but it does pay up later when there's more fuel in the tank.

 - it really absolutely genuinely doesn't matter what other runners are doing, unless they try to trip someone, or offer me money for nothing. 

 - eating more than I ever imagined, and healthily, really takes a lot of discomfort out of running. - people are really supportive and I feed off that goodwill. 

- a little but consistent Yoga and strenght training here and there is directely proportional to enjoyment of running. 

- fake tan is such a stupid thing to do, unless the label doesn't lie and it really doesn't stain the bedsheets.

 - shoes for running and in life are so important. I never paid as much attention to my feet until this project. 

- raising money for Place2Be feels really, really, really good. Seeing how many people donated feels so, so, so wonderful. 

- the body loves consistency and progress is linear when plans are followed. 

- it is really not the end of the world to fall off the wagon and start again. The mind is made exactly for that.

 - but next time maybe do something with my hands, like knitting or croqueting. Give these knees and hips some rest.