What kind of marathon will you run?
I just ran my second marathon. 26.2 miles. I was anxious about it days in advance. One, because I was not sure how I was going to do. Training was enough to give me enough confidence to not bail, but not so much that I was expecting a fantastic event. Two, because I knew it was going to hurt. I reminded myself of my initial goal. To run healthy and be happy I was able to run. Some do not have the ability to run at all. I ran. And ran. And ran. It was definitely harder and harder as it progressed, but I ran to the finish. I cried. I held my tears in so it wasn't an all out ugly cry, but I just couldn't keep them in completely. Afterwards I found myself reflecting on how life is like a marathon. It has ups and downs. It becomes harder and harder. There is a lot of mental coaching to keep going. Life is a long endurance race. Life can feel fatiguing. Life is hard. Marathons are hard. With this reflections I thought about how I needed to create a certain mindset before starting