26.2 in 3:40:59

In three weeks I'll be running the Portland Marathon. And then three weeks after that, I'll be running the Dublin Marathon. If that means nothing to you, let's just say that's a heckuva lot of running.

My freshman year in high school I played volleyball and basketball, and while I had played basketball competitively starting at the age of 10, and although I was a starter on the JV team, I decided to specialize and play volleyball year-round. Mostly this was because I loved volleyball and I saw a great chance to get a scholarship to play in college, and a little bit because there was too much running in basketball. Do you hear that? Too. Much. Running.

I guess I like running now. Sort of. I guess. Really, I don't know how much of it is that I like running--I like a challenge.

I ran my first marathon in 2004, and since then I've run two more. It's not easy, and it's not necessarily all that much fun, in fact, it's often downright torture. And as I head into races 4 and 5 next month, I've reached my favorite part of training--the part where we don't run as much. We had our longest run of the training period on Saturday, and we taper off until race day.

I'm hoping to qualify for the Boston Marathon at Portland, and truth be told I've been trying to qualify at every race after that first one. I've even tried in Portland before. And every time I've tried to qualify, I've not been successful. As I headed into training for these upcoming races, I took the same approach I've taken before. One of the coaches for our team suggested an alternate option. And while I was quite reticent to adopt that mentality (I mean, how I could I run slower than the pace I need to run during the race?) I realized that I was poo-pooing advice from someone who consistently qualifies for Boston and also, holding onto the approach which had never yielded me the result I was chasing.

Note to self: Trust the process.

I have to admit heading into the race I feel more confident and prepared than ever. And it could be because I know the course, or because the third time's a charm. Or maybe it could be that I didn't know best and that trusting the process and the coach's advice is something I should have done a long time ago. And when I think that, I really wish I would have done this years ago. Think of all the running I wouldn't have had to do.