Epilogue (Part 1)

Ok, today is 2 days after the run and I'm going to recap the final bits as well as I can remember. This is in two, easily digestible parts.

Friday, January 14
Last day of work to occupy my mind before the run. I'm getting a bit nervous about my level of training and ability to actually do this. I'm continuously reminding my self that I know my body, I know my general level of fitness, and I know that I can pull this off. I sub for a co-worker at the Marathon Expo passing out runner's packets hoping to get "inspired" by seeing at least one squishy specimen attempting to run the marathon so that I won't feel like the only one... I see a few, but most opt to switch to the half marathon. At this point I make the decision to not fail, but if I'm going to fail, I'd rather fail at the full marathon than succeed at the half marathon. No disrespect to those who do the half, 13.1 miles is a long, long way to run. I went into this looking for a challenge, something I wasn't sure I could do and had to work to do it. I know I can run 13.1. I'm still not sure about this marathon thing.
Anyway, I bump into my old college roommate, Rick Bennett, and we end up going out and chowing pasta later that night. It was good to see Rick again... in college he was not what you'd call athletic. In fact, he was not what you'd call out of shape... you have to be in shape at some point to be out of shape. Since his freshman year at UH he's reformed himself physically into someone who can run a marathon (he ran in 2003). If he can do it, I can do it. No problem. Inspiration found. Thanks Rick.