It's getting closer..

So my marathon is in, like, seven weeks. SEVEN WEEKS, PEOPLE! I am running a half marathon - through Disneyland, yippee! - on Monday. Today a couple of us from TNT ran five miles while the rest of the poor fools ran 18 miles. Yep, that's right, I said EIGHTEEN. We actually ran that last weekend instead of the scheduled 16 because we knew we weren't doing a long run this weekend. It is quite amusing to me that running 13.1 miles is no longer considered long.

When I ran my first (and only other) half marathon back in February, my longest run til that day was 10 miles. Thirteen was a challenge. Especially considering I basically died at the 10-mile mark and crawled to the finish line.

Now, 13 sounds not so bad. I've done runs of 14 miles twice, and one run of 18. When I finished the 18, I thought to myself, for the first time, that I believe I can actually finish the marathon.

That might sound like a ridiculous thought for someone who has been training to do just that for over three months. But there are days when three miles is a struggle. I've figured out that it's all in the mindset. You mentally gear yourself for the longer mileage. And then you chug chug chug along.

I sure wish I were a faster runner. I seem to have slowed down a lot over the past few months. I don't think I'll better my time from my first half. But I guess the most important thing is I'm out there doing it. Especially after listening to a woman speak before training today.

She is on the walk team, I think. She got up in front of us this morning to share her story. She is a survivor. She was diagnosed with ALL (the most common form of Leukemia) when she was a sophomore in college. Her treatment included chemotherapy, drugs that made her gain 30 pounds, a bone marrow transplant, and, her doctors got around to telling her, would likely make her sterile.

Having babies was not exactly something she was thinking of at that time in her life. Until suddenly she had to. So, even though her insurance didn't cover it, she harvested and froze her eggs.

Luckily, her brother was a perfect match for a bone marrow transplant. This November, she will have been in remission a year. Someday, she can even have babies.

We applauded. Some of us, especially us moms, wiped away a few tears. And remembered why we're running.