11 days

I can't believe we are almost to the single digits. 11 more days until I set out on my 26.2 mile run. What is incredibly crazy about this is when I started training for my 1/2 in May, I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it. I've had self doubt for years about what my body is capable of doing. 13.1 miles? No way. 26.2 miles? NEVER.

It's now almost November which means I've been training for 6 months. 6 months of waking up at 4:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning to go run. 6 months of making sure I drink enough water and that I eat for fuel on Friday. 6 months of questioning my decision to do this and 6 months of feeling empowered.

Sometimes I really do wonder why the heck I decided to do this. 26.2 miles isn't THAT far...right? When I ran 20 a few weekends ago, reality really hit. I still had another hour of running to get to 26.2. That's perspective. We started off on one side of Nashville, ended up on a completely different side, and still had to turn around and do it all over.

No matter how many miles I set out to do in a particular day, it's a victory when I finish. When I'm running 10 miles, I think how back in June, I ran 10 for the first time ever and it was the biggest triumph of all. I still feel like a champion when I run 3 miles. Because at one point, three miles was hard.

With all of that being said, my current hurdle is my knee. I've been nervous about the marathon since day 1 but it was never really a physical thing, more a mental thing. Now, it's becoming physical which makes it more out of my control. My knee has been killing me since running Percy Warner Hills a few weeks ago. I've been foam rolling and stretching but I think the biggest thing for me to do is rest, which is not ideal. Last weekend when I ran 10, my knee barely held up and I feel like it's just getting worse by the day.

So I'll be praying a lot, foam rolling, stretching, and hopefully jogging some in the next two weeks.