What goes through my head before a big race

I'm working from home today, and in between throwing last-minute items in my suitcase and cranking out a few projects, I'm thinking.

Yeah, this could get dangerous.

My bestie and I leave this afternoon to head to Florida for the Dark Side Challenge - two races, one weekend, totally 19.3 miles when all is said and done. We're tapping in to our inner geeks and getting ready to use the Force. But before we do that, we had to grind through about three and a half months of training.

Good days. Bad days. Scheduled runs that didn't happen, weeks when there was just too much going on. We did our best, and that's what we'll do on Saturday and Sunday: our best, whatever that looks like. Truly, I'm grateful to be able to run, and my race goal is to live in the moment every step of the way. I've packed my sense of wonderment in my carry-on.

Over the last few days, a lot of people have said, "I don't know how you do it," or "I could never do that," or "you have to be crazy!" (That last one might be true.) Here's what I want you to know: how I do it is by deciding I will and then following a plan, and you can do it if you want to.

I'm a proud slow runner. I've never even cracked the top 2/3 of my age group, and it's possible I never will. It doesn't matter. What matters is that I am out there, challenging myself, stepping up to the start line with full faith that I will cross the finish line. It's one thing to not want to do it. It's quite another to think you can't.

It's just mileage. All you have to do is be willing to keep moving forward.