Confidence

I have been a bad blogger this week. There's not much to say when you're tapering and the race is just a few days away.

My coach has been talking to me about mantras--things to say to myself during the race that will put my head back in the game and keep me focused. Usually when I lose focus in a race, I count. Maybe it's the engineer in me. :) I count my steps between poles. I count my steps between mailboxes. I count to 50 over and over until I reach the next mile marker. Because this race is going to likely take me 6 hours, that's a whole lot of counting! So, I decided to take her advice and think of a mantra. What did I come up with?

Confidence

Physically, I am ready for the race. I did more training than I did for the last one. I'm lean and muscular. I've been following the nutrition plans. My body is ready to go. But, my head always seems to get in the way of a great race. The two marathons in which I think I had the perfect race, my mind was focused. I thought of nothing except running. I need those thoughts to happen this weekend. So I decided to focus on the word "confidence". I need to be confident that my training was enough. I need to be confident that I deserve to be out there with the best. I need to be confident that I can pull off the race that I want to pull off.

Coincidently, I've been asked to speak at vacation bible school next week and my topic...confidence. :)