The Feelings I Feel I am Feeling.

The marathon is less than two days away. Less than two days!
The long runs are done.
The short runs are done.
Any kind of running is done, the next two days are rest days.
Or as I like to call them, Becky goes psycho from sitting around, stuffing in carbs and being nervous phase.
It is quite fun...for everyone.

It is all mental from here. And a little bit of physical I guess, because nutrition is key right now.

This part of the preparation, for me, is pretty interesting. It is a game. A big, huge, whacked out, jumbled, mental game full of bagels, crackers, rest and nerves. And it is hard, but also cool.

Hard, because just sitting here doing nothing is against everything I want to do when I am nervous.

Cool, because I know that right now, at this very moment in time, I am in the best shape I could possibly be in, and I am as prepared as I can possibly be. I am at the peak condition I need to be in to run a marathon. This is a phase that I cannot stay in very long. Maybe a month at the most. So I try to enjoy it.

I will spend today and tomorrow resting my legs as much as possible, taking Aleve to get any inflammation down, and carb loading. Not junk food loading, but carb loading. There is a difference, unfortunately. ;)

Tomorrow the games begin, and I am so excited!! We drive to Provo when Ben gets off work and pick up my race packet. This is actually an event. They have a HUGE running expo in the hotel with booths and all sorts of cool stuff for runners. They had one at the Saint George Marathon and it was so awesome. It gets me all excited and pumped up to be there with so many runners (approx 8000 of them between the full and half marathons). It really helps me mentally get in the groove and get where I need to be. Nothing like a bunch of runners, talking about running, learning about running, looking at booths about running, buying clothes for running, and sharing running advice and stories, to get you all pumped up for a marathon!

To us, it is super cool, to everyone else, it is probably like watching a bunch of over carbed, pent up energized lemmings getting all excited and pumped up before their big jump off the cliff.

After the expo, we are eating at Olive Garden for one final carb load. I am hoping to meet my cousin and my friend Trudy there. Olive Garden has proven to work like a gem in the past, so I am hoping it will follow through this time for me. We will see around mile 10. My stomach seems to have a relationship with the porta potty at mile 10.

Then it is off to my Aunts house and an early bed time. Um, maybe for my family. I am pretty sure I won't be able to sleep.

The morning starts at 3:00am, (no, that is not a typo, 3:00am really does exist, and yes, I really am getting up at that time) and it is off to the buses! My cousin is running the marathon as well, so I will be able to ride to the hotel with her, where the busses will take us to the starting line. This is a big deal to me. I have been dreading riding the bus alone and being alone at the starting line. It will be awesome to be with someone! The last bus leaves at 4:15 am. Rock on!

I am feeling about every feeling possible right now,

but I have an underlying feeling of peace and calm. I attribute that to all of the prayers I have been sending upstairs.

I am trying to stay busy (but not too busy, because my legs have to rest), and keep my mind occupied. For me, that combination is so foreign. The more anxious I am about something, the more I move. I am one of those people that walks laps around the house while talking on the phone, I fidget in my chair at church or school, I am always tapping my foot or moving some part of my body, and my mind does not shut down easily. I am not nervous all the time, I just like to be moving I guess. I am the kind of person that drives calm people crazy.

There may be a lot of blog posts coming your way. Just take it with a grain of salt, and laugh at me as I try to occupy myself without moving too much. Maybe it will be a good time to finish up my blog book for this year.

Anyway, any prayers sent my way Saturday morning would be greatly appreciated and felt for sure! I am off to eat a bagel with peanut butter.

Toodles.