The Day Before

Tomorrow I'm going to run a marathon. I'm going to run 26.2 miles, and it will probably take me nearly five hours. Though I run intervals (run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute, repeat), I don't think my body will care about that one minute of walking once I hit mile 20. Or mile 21. Or any mile thereafter. Afterwards, I'll cry and hug my friends, eat free food, confirm plans for a pedicure on Monday, and go home to an ice bath. Twenty minutes of sitting in icy water - I'll probably need 30 pounds this time - should just about do it. So, what am I thinking at this moment? I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! I'm so excited in fact, that my friend Marisela, my father, and I have already signed up to run a half marathon in Austin on February 15th.

I can still remember when I started running, back in Nishiokoppe. Over and over I told Aaron that I just wanted to be able to run a 5K. Three miles would be good enough for me. Our friend, Nao, was married to a marathoner. I would occasionally pass her in the chilly mornings as she trained for the Tokyo marathon. Later I would shake my head in disbelief, unable to comprehend what would drive someone to run such a great distance. That all changed last November when I ran in a 5K race which preceded the San Antonio Marathon. As I watched all the marathoners run past me, I was nearly brought to tears as I thought about the struggled they would face for the next few hours, the dedication and craziness of it all. Then the thought crept into my head, slowly at first, building in intensity until I found myself sitting at home looking at the website for next year's inaugural San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon. By the end of that day, I had paid my money and become obsessed with the idea of it all.

So here I am, a year later, resting before my big day. I still can't really say why I'm doing it, only that I know it's going to be wonderful and I can't wait to plan my next one. I'm met some great folks along the way: Carla and Marisela who are my perfect "pace-mates"; Speedy Tom, Veronica, April, and Katherine, and Justin - whose wife is also running and who had enough dedication to find a sitter at 5:00 a.m. every Saturday for six months! I've read books and magazines, watched Marathon movies, and risen early morning after morning. Not a single second of it have I regretted. I've never been what I would consider an athlete, but tomorrow it feels as if a journey that I began on a cold morning in Japan will take on a new life. For after tomorrow, I can officially say I'm a “Marathoner”, and to me, that suddenly means that anything is possible. If I can go from couch potato to Marathon Mom, what other possibilities lie ahead of me? Only time will tell, but I'm excited to find out.

Never, never, never give up!