Seven Check Marks

I have my running schedule posted at work by my desk as well as in the kitchen by the back door. 

When I put them up, I think the point was to inspire and motivate me but sometimes looking at them just makes me feel tired.

Every time I finish another week, I put a checkmark on the schedule. 

Seven checkmarks so far...

...eleven more to go.

Most of the time, I try to take it one run at a time.  It's easier that way because, if you stand back far enough to see the proverbial forest for the trees, it's a really freakin' big forest.  Full of wolves and badgers and other scary things lurking in the shadows.  So I find it best to just deal with one run (or tree if you prefer) at a time. 

I sat at the kitchen counter the other day and asked Doug what the hardest part of training for a marathon was.  "Do you mean the hardest run?" he asked.  No, I mean that point in which is just feels hardest.  Is now the hardest part?  When we're pretty far into the training and feeling kinda tired and yet we're not even half way there yet? 

Is the week with the most mileage the hardest simply because it's the most physically demanding?

Is the week before the race the hardest because it's close enough to touch and very scary?

Doug said that, for him, tapering is the hardest.  You've done the long runs and now, as things slow down, you have a few weeks to worry and wonder whether you're strong enough to do what you need to do on race day.   

Interesting. 

I am not one for making predictions but I have a feeling that I'm entering the hardest part right now... for me anyway. I have that same feeling I get when we have to do an out and back long run and those last few kilometres before the turn around point seem interminable.  That's what it feels like right now.  I just want to get over that hump and be able to count down the weeks until the race rather than counting up. 

So physically, the hardest may be yet to come but psychologically it feels like I might be there now. 

Which is ok really because it's not like I'm feeling depressed or overwhelmed about what I have left to do.  I'm just trotting along, doing what I need to do, until I get to turn around. 

Once I turn around I'll be able to see the finish line far off in the distance.  And that will give me something to run for.