Motivation

With ten days to go before the big day, my mileage is going down and my legs are starting to feel better. This morning I got up before dawn to put in a marathon pace workout: 2 x 4 miles at goal MP. It was a cool morning (33 degrees) , and I had to dig out my gloves. But it was clear with a lovely crescent moon, and I got to see the stars fade into the first hints of dawn, which is always a huge highlight of morning running that never gets old. The run felt great--I averaged 7:57 for the MP miles and it felt smooth and relaxed. I found myself not focusing for large chunks of time, but with no problems maintaining pace over undulating terrain, which I take to be a very good sign.

With less running, I've had more time to think about my journey to Boston, and the things that helped motivate me. I'm not necessarily talking about the Big Things, but rather the things like songs and videos that helped get me out the door on cold days, or hot days, or rainy days, or just I-don't-wanna days. I thought maybe I'd go through some of these in the days leading up to the race, both as a way of passing the time and pump myself up. And if you're reading this, perhaps you'll discover something new that will help get YOU out the door!

I'll open with a song from the mix tape that my high school cross country coach used to play for the team before we made it the state meet despite being TINY. Enrollment of 400 vs. enrollments of 2000+? Awesome. The tape included a lot of pretty random songs, but this one stayed with me and can still be found on my iPod playlist (I hope this works):