one week left—and sick :/

Well, the aforementioned sore throat has officially turned into a cold... and today marks exactly one week until the half.  Perfect.

I came down with it for sure on Friday morning; it's Sunday night, and I am making a doctor's appointment to get an antibiotic tomorrow if I don't feel any better in the morning.  I ended up sitting out on our tapered "long" run on Saturday morning.  Six miles is only a mile or so longer than my short runs, so I felt like it wasn't really going to boost my endurance the way the other long runs have.  I made the call that it would probably be more wise to rest...

Easy for me to type!!!

I have been so "by the book" with this training, I have to admit it scares me a little to get "off track" this close to the race.  I've never done this before, and did not start off as a "runner," so this training's all I got!  Of course, anyone who's done this before would tell me if I've gotten to 12 miles, I'm there.  Not to worry.  A few people have even said that, at this point, the half is "in the bag."  I guess because I still have yet to run a whole 13, and the fact that my body is weakening from being sick, and I'm not going to get in any short runs until I'm well, it's hard for me to remain fully confident that I'll be as prepared on Sunday as I could have been without getting sick...

Logically thinking, the day of the race will only be two weeks since I ran 12 miles... but it already feels like an eternity.  In my mind, the endurance I've worked so hard to build could be slipping away with every passing day.  Dramatic, maybe, but truthful thoughts?  Absolutely.  As this entire journey has shown me, it's just going to have to come down to trusting the training and believing in myself to do it.  With every week gone by, right up until this very last one, it hasn't been "strides of assurance" but strides of faith.  Taking a leap of faith in runner's terminology.  Running the race and pressing on toward the goal, believing not in what is yet seen (crossing that finish line having run the entire time) but in what is not seen (the uncertainty of what will happen that morning).  One thing's for SURE: I have to keep in the forefront of my mind that the journey to the half is where the learning and growth and progress and even success has really taken place.  An imperfect race day will NOT dampen my spirit or make it all in vain.  Now, I may have to find another one to run before the year is over if that's the case, but other than that... ;)  

Praying for all my friends and fellow runners to stay well and injury-free this last week!