18 miles

So, I've been psychologically prepping myself all week for the challenge of running 18 miles today...I ran every single day except for Friday! Even on mornings when I had to teach, I woke up ridiculously early and ran. Yesterday, I prepped my graduate course, graded most of my essays, only drank water, and tried to get to sleep at a decent hour.

Then, I couldn't sleep.

I lay there, thinking about 18 miles, and I couldn't sleep. The more I tried not to thnk about running that far, the more scared I got. So I finally fell asleep around 2 and had to wake up at 5 because, for some reason unknown to man--at least to me--, my TNT group decided to begin our Sunday run at 6 instead of 6:30. Inhumane. I'm already not a morning person, and getting up this early on a Sunday is just brutal.

But, despite my sleeplessness and general grouchiness this morning (even my dog, who pretends a big yawn so that I'll let him out of his crate and then promptly falls asleep right outside the door, is annyoing me right now), I know I can do this. I've been training so hard, and I'm strong, physically and mentally.

More importantly, I'm not doing this for me -- I'm doing it in memory of my father and other cancer heroes and survivors. This, I think, will be my mantra for today, and it should be enough to get me through.