It’s happening, y’all!
The lead up to this marathon has been… I don’t think stressful is the right word, because I think stress is way more intense than just some marathon training. True stress is reserved for creative stuff and career stuff, I think.
And I wouldn’t necessarily say it was frightening either, because that’s reserved more, again, for career stuff, also probably image stuff (like when I have to get Botox someday, that’ll be scary)… or maybe for episodes of criminal minds.
But, think the vein of those emotions (just less so, of course). Because I want to shave 1/2 an hour off my old marathon time.
Granted, I’m really slow. Any real runners out there are cracking up at the idea of having to work hard just to get a 6:30. But for me, I’ve been working really hard to make it happen!
So, I’ve been living in this world of prep – tapering down my training, figuring out the best times to try to eat certain things, all that jazz. Because I’ve been living in this world of “you’ve gotta go to sleep at 6pm every night this week!” and practically all my thoughts being consumed by the marathon, I forgot about the fun that running events bring.
And the expo was fun.
Well, first I had to wait almost an hour to get in, because the line was absolute insanity… And we had to wait outdoors because of how long the line was. And we all know how much I hate the sun. But, it was all fine. I’ve waited for things before. I feel like I have patience. Plus, I got to be really melodramatic on twitter and instagram. So, that was fun.
I can tell I haven’t been as up on the California running community lately because there are two – that’s right two races I didn’t even know existed!One is the Ventura Marathon, and one is Folsom Blues Breakout race.
The Ventura one had awesome looking shirts, really cool medals, nice people running the booth. I was practically ready to sign up right there! But how could I know what I’ll be doing in September? Come on.
I also met Marie at her booth touting the Mt. Kilimanjaro Marathon… I do fantasize sometimes about doing a marathon around Kilimanjaro, but when I’ve looked it up dreamily at night, there are so many! How am I supposed to know which one’s the best?!
(I don’t plan on doing it anytime soon though. I don’t even have my passport!) So, I have time to weigh pros and cons first.
There was also a Dunkin’ Donuts booth, which flabbergasted me. I thought we didn’t even have Dunkin’ Donuts! I wondered if I were back in Boston for a moment. And, they gave out rocking bags. Bravo, Dunkin’ Donuts.
There was also a really sweet Arrowhead Water display where you could take things off the wall. (And the company even started following me on instagram, so obviously, we’re best friends forever now.
At one booth, I met this poor guy who’s lived in LA for 13 years. He came from New York. He hates every single thing about LA. It was weird talking to the decade-in-the-future version of myself. 😛
And that sums up the expo! The excitement was there. I’m ready… Is it time to do this thing yet?!