This is it, my friends.
16 weeks of honeymoon, apathy, pure pain, momentum, and everything in between, I’ve reached the last emotional stage of marathon training:
Anxious excitement.
I doubt I’ll update P&P until Sunday after the race, so without further ado I present my marathon training wrap-up.
I honestly never thought this day would come.
Days until Big Sur International Marathon: 3 [photo above courtesy of bsim fb page]
Race reputation: “If you only do one, make this be it;” “one of the top three marathons in the US;” “one of the most difficult marathon courses in the world”
Weeks of training: 16
Total miles run: 411 (missed one jog on the GPS)
Average pace: somewhere between “snail” and “turtle”
Total calories burned running: 40,646+
Weight loss: I gained weight. There’s something unfair about this.
Number of times my rockstar mom ran training runs with me: half a dozen (she’s running a 10.6 miler at Big Sur too, by the way! She ran a 3:30-something marathon when she was my age and ran the Nike Women’s Marathon with TNT a few years ago, AFTER battling leukemia… TWICE. She rocks!)
Race location: Pacific Coast Highway
Where I ran on the Pacific Coast Highway during training: San Francisco and Los Angeles
Total packets of GU consumed: countless
Determined favorite flavor of GU: Chocolate Outrage
Will I miss GU after this race: hells to the NO
Toenails lost: 2
Friends lost because I kept talking about how I was missing toenails: not yet determined
Time required for first 6.1mi training run: 1:06
Time to run a 10K during my Shamrock’n Half Marathon: 53:46
Long Run Locations: Granite Bay, American River, Sacramento, Berkeley, LA, and SF
Attitude towards pedestrians before training: Yay, people out walking and being healthy!
Attitude towards them after training: GET THE &@*! OUT OF MY WAY.
Most inexplicable decision made: going vegetarian less than two weeks before starting training
Obsession throughout the last four months of my life: protein
Brands of protein bars and powders in my kitchen: half a dozen
Friends lost because I kept talking about protein: not yet determined
Percentage of Pancakes & Postcards posts about running pre-January: <1/10
Percentage of posts after: 50%
Number of times I swore I never would be a blogger who always talked about running: countless
Number of pairs of Asics Gel-Kayanos bought: 2
Course elevation profile:
How much training I did on hills: eh…
Pleas for empathy posted on BSIM facebook page: 1
Number of “marathon dreams” I’ve had: at least 10
Current desktop on work computer:
Goal of current desktop on work computer: stop eating crap at work
Success of that initiative: nope. It’s just making it harder to see my icons.
Goal time: on a flat course it’d be 4:45, but Big Sur tells everyone to add 20-30 minutes to their marathon time, so…
Goal time: under 6 hours 30 minutes so they let me finish. And I want a damn medal.
Recent reading:
What I’ll be repeating in my head during those four… five… six hours:
Step one: put one foot in front of the other. Step two: there is no step two.
You deserve to be here. You are so much stronger than you think.
Stop being a big baby, quit whining, and run the damn thing already!
How I’m feeling:
Anxious.
Scared.
Terrified of failing.
Didid I mention I didn’t really train on hills so much?
Apprehensive.
But most importantly…
I am so damn excited I can’t sleep.
Tomorrow I pack my race bag, make a killer 6 hour (haha) marathon playlist, and TRY to turn off my brain enough to rest.
Saturday at 8AM I’m outta here.
Bring it on Big Sur! I can’t wait to put you behind me.
The next time I update this blog, I’ll either have conquered this race and given it all I had, or gone down in flames trying.
Twitter
LinkedIn
Flickr
Facebook
Ahh!!!! First of all, your mom is amazing. Amazing!
Second, good luck! I’m so excited for you and can’t wait to hear/read about!!
Coming out of temporary lurkdom to say: YOU GO GIRL! Seriously, give it your all, and have FUN. If you’re in Santa Cruz on your way back, give a holler.
Hills schmills.
Great recap! You are going to do great! I’m running my 1st 1/2 on Saturday! Yay for running!
good luck!!! you can do it courtney
your 1st is always incredible. you’ll love it 
Good luck!!!!
You are going to rock this race, i can’t wait to read the recap
Gaahhhhhhhhhh!!!! It’s here already???
GOOD LUCK. You’re body is trained so now you just have to believe in yoursel and let your body do the rest.
Can’t wait to hear all about it!
YOU ARE SO GONNA KICK BUTT!! I can’t wait to read about it! Your mom rocks!
Awesome, awesome, awesome!!! You’re going to rock it!! You’ve trained so hard and no doubt you’ll be able to finish in much less than 6 hours. Plus you definitely deserve that damn medal.
Such a cute post! You are gonna rock it!
Your mom definitely rocks. What an inspiration!
Boa sorte Courtney! I can’t wait to hear how it goes.
you’re hilarious and i love you. can’t wait to see pictures of you triumphantly crossing that finish line, baby!
ahhhh good luck good luck!! you’re going to to amazing! loved this post/marathon wrap up : )
Have fun! you will rock! can’t wait to read about it!
Your mom is awesome. Good luck! Oh, and I looooove those shoes too!
I love this!! And I’m so excited for you! I hope this race is everything you hope it’ll be and more!
Remember your mantras, just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and soak it all in. Good luck!! I can’t wait to hear how it goes!
You have inspired me! Thanks for the GREAT post! I’m scared too – even though it’s only the ten miler – but that hills thing.Um..yeah. But remember “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will SOAR on wings like eagles…they will RUN AND NOT GROW WEARY…” Oh yeah – bring it on Big Sur. Yikes.
Good luck! You’re going to do great!!!!
You are an inspiration! I am happy for you!
Holy crap, this is CRAZY awesome!! Good luck girl, you’re going to kick butt
I mean, look at the dedication from this post alone!!! 
Good luck tackling those killer hills! You’re going to do great!
I’m excited for you! Good luck and enjoy every mile of it!
Two weeks until my first marathon. I feel the pressure to. We just need to keep telling ourselves that we rock, and then run it out.
you DO rock, and I can’t wait to hear about your race!
I hope everything went well!!! I can’t wait to read your race re-cap!!!!
How did it go? I’m dying to know! Did you kick the crap out of those hills? You’re officially a marathoner – congrats!!!
Which one’s next on your list?
I FINALLY wrote a recap
and next on deck is the SF marathon (currently registered for half… thinking about upgrading to the full!) and the nike womens. 