Looking forward

A very important member of Team Rachel is my friend Nicole. She's one of my best friends and is also an avid runner, having run 3 marathons before, and she's about to run the Boston marathon in less than 2 weeks - which she qualified for, she's not running with a charity. Yeah, she's bananas. She's been encouraging me and supporting me like crazy, and this morning she sent me a quote to give me something to look forward to:

"You finished a marathon and you believe, 'If I can do this, I can do anything.' " - Grete Waitz and Gloria Averbuch

And I do truly believe if I can get through this, if I can cross that finish line and live to tell the tale, that I really can do anything. Sometimes I think to myself "I know my limits, [X] isn't something I could ever really do." Now I'm starting to think those aren't really limits, they're just fears, which can totally be overcome. It was a nice reminder of how this training has already made me feel, and a great preview of what I can look forward to at that finish line.

Speaking of the finish line, the course map has been out on the marathon website for some time now, and I'm beginning to study it more carefully. The first thing that stands out is the massive hill from mile 7 through about mile 10.5... that's gonna be a doozy. BUT, then look ahead and you see that we have 4 or 5 miles to run around Fiesta Island - and with a name like that, how could that stretch not be a good time?! And, we end at Sea World. I know some people are still pissed at the whale who killed the trainer, but I'm still an orca fan, and I'm looking forward to a little post-race dolphin show, myself (after I shotgun the beer they give us). I've decided this is an awesome course for a first marathon!

Oh and side note - To those of you who recently joined Team Rachel, welcome!! I'm so happy to have you as part of this journey. I'm officially up to $3637, which is more than 25% beyond the initial goal of $2900, and I have 71 amazing supporters!!! Let's all keep kicking ass together!!