the countdown

It is very clear to me that the exceptional part of running a marathon has less to do with the 26.2 miles and more to do with the preceding 18 weeks.  Fitting in 4 days of running- 2 short runs, 1 medium run and 1 long run - plus a day of cross training is no small feat for busy moms who are shuffling countless other commitments and responsibilities.  I've logged 396 training miles in the past 17 1/2 weeks.

For us training for a May marathon this year has meant a winter of perseverance, running through frigid temperatures (I can recall a run where it was 1 degree), having to run the rat wheel of the treadmill for long runs when the snow covered roads made the roads unsafe, dealing with cancelled races and sickness have made me proud of all we've done before we ever set foot on that marathon course.

Here is my current pride and joy:

I've had two days of rest and now only a teensy 2 miler stands between me and a marathon.  It is exhilarating and slightly terrifying. 

Thank goodness I have these amazing women by my side.  None of this would be any fun without them. 

The girls just left to spend the weekend with their grandparents (a much needed break for me I must confess) and then we leave tomorrow at noon for Sugarloaf.  The six of us plus Sandi are bunking in a beautiful condo on the mountain for a girls' overnight and meals out.  As Emilie said, "The whole marathon thing seems like just a big inconvenience in between us eating out."  Ha ha. 

Except that Emilie came down with the worst-timed sickness in the history of sickness.  To miss a marathon you've trained for (in the aforementioned 18 weeks) seems like the most devastating thing. I know there are much worst travesties to befall people, but in my narrow scope of marathon prep, well, I am seriously pissed at that sickness for keeping Emilie from this race. 

This was the Sole Sister's big event for the year- all six of us- and now we are one sister down. 

Damn.

To restate the obvious, I have to say again how much these women mean to me.  We always know when to laugh at the entire marathoning endeavor and all it entails - physically, emotionally, financially-  but at the end of the day, or the end of the race, we all know our bonds are as sound as a sailor's knot because we run together.   Despite all our other similarities in age, as mother's, in the age and stages of our children and our life perspectives, on foot we are all that and more.   We can step out of the familiar grooves of living and responsibility, of giving and doing.  Out on the road, we can be gritty, tough, raw, vulnerable, doubtful, truthful, overwhelmed, even selfish and independent and removed from our bigger pictures.  Sure, we might be friends if we didn't run together but I think it is because we run together that we have become so very intertwined. 

Thank you ladies.  For everything.

I bow humbly before the distance I am about to embark on.  But more than that, I bow in love and eternal gratitude for these women in my life.