A Big Week.

Well, today is the day I sell my first house. Closing should happen around noon. I guess I don’t get the wire of funds until tomorrow, but everything seems like it’s in order. I did everything that I was supposed to do. The buyers have apparently done everything they were supposed to do. I am going to be trading a house for a big lump of money (though not as big as I was hoping by quite a bit), and that will be that. The house I thought I was going to retire in will belong to someone else.

I’m nostalgic. I loved that house. It worked as advertised for a long time. It was a good house and a good home. I had a lot of trouble there, and did a lot of growing. I hope it’s as good for the new family as it was for me. They seem like a great young couple and I’m hopeful they have a wonderful time in the house. I sent them a bouquet.

I’ve had a good fitness week. Two ten-mile runs at 9:08 and 10:01 respectively, minus a few minutes water stops and pee breaks. I was so unhappy with my fitness levels leading into the training season. I was deeply worried about my ability to complete this marathon. But the last few weeks I’ve put in more effort, and harder, longer runs. As a result, along with the cooler weather, I’ve been able to hit the long runs with a lot more effectiveness.

We have our longest run Saturday morning. Longest until race day, that is. 21 miles. I expect it to take us about four hours, and be everything we can do that day. Tomorrow night we will eat Indian or Mexican or Thai, to load up on white rice and lean protein. Saturday we will get up at 0600 and then go run like hell. I’ll bring plenty of salt and sugar to fuel me along the way. It’s supposed to be about 45 degrees, perfect running weather.

So I’m feeling confident, and capable, but still a little daunted. When your long runs start with a 2, you have to take them seriously. I mean, this run would be a 20 minute drive *on the freeway*. That’s a long-ass way to go. So far in my life, I’ve run 20+ miles three times. Twice last year (a 21 and a 26.2), and once this year (a 20). All three times I’ve made it. And I’m fit for this one. I feel like I’ll be ready, and then it will be three weeks to the marathon. So far, I’ve run 341.7 training miles. 108.2 to go.

A couple of aphorisms about marathon training I’ve found to be true (but didn’t make up). A marathon is not 26.2 miles. A marathon is hundreds of miles. The 26.2 is just the last day. And of course, the marathon is 20 miles of training, 6.2 miles of truth.

So, we’re approaching the home stretch of my marathon. I’m going to be ready. Those last few miles are going to hurt. But I’ve been through that pain before and I know how to do it. And this race should be better than the last one, if only because I won’t be standing around for two and a half hours first, which hurts. I don’t expect every step to be agony the way it was beyond the halfway mark last year. I can do this.

I can do hard things.