24 Hours to Go: A Bag of Nervous Energy

After what can only be described as a terrible night's sleep (woke up twice thanks to different nightmares which weren't running related), I had an epic breakfast with my other half before we headed into town. I suspect the trip into town was more for my benefit as it kept me preoccupied for four hours as we went around looking at suits, buying shoes (and buns) and having coffee.

What has been lovely has been the trickle of texts and phone calls I have been getting all day wishing me luck for tomorrow. My friends and family are awesome! Also, big shout out to Kieran who arrived at the house yesterday evening after I posted last nights blog post and offered to help in any way he can so he is going to bring me in to the bus tomorrow morning - Super! He also brought some of his homemade blueberry muffins which went down a treat :) Thanks KC!

Freshly baked yummy deliciousness :)

I also stopped off in Elvery's on the way out of town and picked up my Race Pack for tomorrow. Now that I've the race pack in hand with my bib, wristband and bag for the baggage drop, it's all becoming very real. I'm going to have a mega pasta dinner this evening and try get an early night again tonight! Hopefully the next time I post on this blog it will be great news. 

I'm trying hard not to set myself a target time for tomorrows race but I suppose if I'm honest, I do want to beat my Dublin time (3:52) but know this course is meant to be particularly challenging (Hey, name one course that isn't going to be a challenge!). That is not going to stop me though... Hopefully I can channel all of the nervous energy floating around inside me and put it to good use. 

Number 5321!

24 hours before the Dublin Marathon I posted this:

Whatever happens tomorrow, whether I run the only marathon I ever run tomorrow or whether this is the start of a journey to 100 marathons, if my nipples start bleeding from the chaffing (sorry for the image there) or I have an emotional breakdown half way around, I'm proud of me. I'm going to go out there and give it my best. My best doesn't mean the best I will ever be capable of, just the best I am capable of giving right now.

If I had stopped running after my first 10K, my 'best' would have been 61 minutes. I kept running, ran numerous 10Ks since and have a best of 46 minutes. This is the attitude I am bringing into the marathon tomorrow with me.

This still rings true today - I can't let nerves and self doubt get the better of me. I've done this before. I can do it again. I read somewhere that a marathon is just a "twenty mile warm up followed by a 10K race". Take from that what you will but I see it as a race of two parts. Both parts I have done on my own numerous times in training up to this point. I just have to put these two together and hope for the best! :)

See you tomorrow Connemara - Be gentle with me! :)