Hoping I can keep this smile for the full 26.2 miles

So today it hit me that on Sunday I will be running a marathon.
A MARATHON. 26.2 miles.
I feel like it is finally starting to sink in. Well, either that or marathon mania has set in. There are so many thoughts whizzing around my head at the moment. Will my calf hold up, will the weather hold up and will I be able to spot my friends cheering me on when I’m struggling the most –  but I’m hoping I won’t be struggling that much!
I know that come Sunday when I line up at the start for the second Plusnet Yorkshire Marathon, these worries will evaporate and I’ll just try and do what I came to do; run.
But until then my race week has so far been filled with peanut butter, nerves, more peanut butter and more nerves.
Don’t get me wrong, I am seriously excited about the challenge ahead but as the day nears the enormity of it has dawned on me and I’m just hoping that more than anything, nothing will stop me from completing it.
This probably goes back to last year when I was lining up at the start line for the Robin Hood Marathon against advice from the physio and mainly my mother. I had been told, due to an injury to my knee, to either forget about the marathon or to power walk it.
I’m a bit of an all or nothing kind of girl so power walking 26.2 miles was never really an option for me, nor was bowing out completely. So off I went and for the first six miles I felt great. Mile 14 came and I was seriously struggling as the pain got worse. Mile 18 arrived and I knew my race was over as I was forced to pull out. Was it a stupid decision to run? Absolutely, and ever since then I have listened to the physio and to my body.
This time – touch wood – I have remained injury free apart from a slight niggling in my calf which I am 100% sure will hold up on Sunday – positive thinking works wonders you know!
So far this week I have done one short run which was slower than marathon pace and tonight I will hit the pool and do some stretching. Tomorrow I’ll jog to work and back.
Over the next few days I will no doubt drive my friends and family mildly crazy with my plan to make plans (I’m not ashamed to say that I have written a plan of what I need to plan before Sunday) and bore them with details of my outfit and my expected split times.
The marathon playlist is on its way to being finalised, I’ve planned how I’m getting there, now I just need to remember to enjoy it and give it my all.