The Big Dance

Ahhh! 5 days until race day. This is my last blog before the 2012 US Olympic Trials. I am bib number #31 in what 'they' are calling the fastest field EVER assembled for the US marathon trials.  I am honored to be a part of it and I am excited to go and compete with so many fast women. Knowing that there are so many fast women, this takes a lot of pressure off of me. I get to just go out, take risks, and run the race of my life. Yes, I am going to go out and have fun during the race, but I also have a time goal that I am trying to meet, one that is part scary, part exciting! I am hoping to find a good pack to work with.I am SO excited to see all of the friends I have made the past year while traveling for races! It is going to feel like a giant paarrrtayyy!!!!

I feel like I did everything I could have done this training cycle. I rested, did a lot of core work, ran many 100-120 mile weeks,  and hit about 99% of my workouts right on. I got my bad races out of the way so I am ready to rock and roll at the trials. I did my visualization work, made my affirmation cards, and made little post-its to tape up in my hotel room. This little girl reminds me of myself:

I am going to try not to get too sappy, but I am so thankful to my husband Matt who has supported me through this entire journey.

He  'talks me off the ledge' when I am feeling defeated and is just the most amazing, supportive, guy. *sigh* Thanks to my family for your constant encouragement, I just got my first "good luck" card in the mail from my Mom and Dad!

Thanks to my friends, Coach, and teammates for all of your kind words and for the constant support.  My training partners Derek, Christina, JT, Tere,  and to Coach John for pacing me through some rough workouts and for making those long runs go by so fast.....thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! I would not be successful without you! And of course to Brooks Running and Perfect Foods Bar for keeping me well dressed and well fed!

After a summer track session with our Perfect Foods Bars, ha!

Bandidos!

Thanks to Brandan at Runnersfeed.com for the great interview on your site! Go check out runnersfeed.com and follow all of OTQ's! So awesome!

So, with that, I am off. I am going to go do my best and give it my all. No regrets!