13 days...

...till I run in my First Marathon!!! As I was watching the NY Marathon on TV yesterday, it hit me - I'm actually going to be doing this! I remember watching the NY Marathon last year when I was still living in New York - at that time I was only contemplating running in my first race which was a 4 miler in December. Now, here I am a year later, about to tackle 26.2 miles on November 19th in the Philadelphia Marathon. I started training over the summer and to be blunt, it's been the toughest time of my life, physically and mentally. I've been plagued with illness and injury for the past few months which included two trips to the ER - major setbacks. The last injury was just last week as I fell running at night, scraping the skin off of my shin.

People ask me why i'm doing this - they think i'm nuts - I sacrificed my Friday nights to wake up before dawn to get 10, 15, 18, and 21 mile runs in with my training group on Saturday mornings. I'm hobbling, i'm tired, and many times, I felt mentally defeated. But it's these moments that make you that much stronger when you push through. Some of you know and for other's, this may come as a surprise - In November 2004, I had cancer removed from my cervix. It was a very dark period in my life and running is what I turned to to get out my frustration. I set the goal of running my first marathon when I turned 30 in my hometown - to beat the cancer (which has been gone since that surgery) - to beat all the negative forces in my life.

So while it hasn't been an easy journey, the day is finally here -and i'm excited and nervous and really can't wait to get to the finish line.

Some of you are in the area - some of you are far away. What i'm asking at this time is for your support - I'm not sure i'll be able to get through it without you. I would be eternally grateful if you could make it out to the course to cheer me on, armed with bite sized hard pretzels, swedish fish, and gatorade (I know it sounds weird- those are the things i've learned I can stomach while running). If you can't, you can send me wishes by text messaging me on my cell (email me if you don't have the number) or leaving comments on this blog. For those that will be there, i'm planning a lunch get together somewhere in Center City to watch the Eagles game at 1 pm. Details about that will follow later.

Information about the marathon, including course map, cheer zones, etc. Can be found at www.philadelphiamarathon.com. I really have no idea how long it'll take me - it depends on so many factors - the weather, the crowd of runners, how my legs feel, etc. - the best guestimate as to where i'll be at certain miles is to add 10 minutes to each mile - So I should be getting to mile 5 at around 8:50 am (since the race starts at 8 am), etc. I may stop to eat, drink, and stretch along the way so more time might be added on to each mile towards the end of the race. I'm anticipating getting to the finish line at the Art Museum around 12:30 pm.

Thank you all for being such great friends!

Love,

Nicole