I am running my first marathon in 2 days

Well, this has been a pathetic attempt at keeping a blog!!

My marathon is 2 days away now. I went on my last training run today.
I have been training for this marathon since June 3rd when I ran a half marathon that I did not train for and wasn't quite prepared for but I did ok. I registered for this marathon on May 26th.
I had always said that I'd never run a marathon then last year I started to think that I might run one someday, I figured I'd wait a couple more years. The idea was in the back of my head and I tried to get rid of it but it just stayed there no matter how hard I tried to ignore it. I would always start thinking about it when I was out running in the early spring. Then out of the blue someone I know just started talking about running this marathon in the fall and trying to convince me that I was going to run it too. I had never said anything about it to anyone. On May 26 I caved in and registered.
Well, I do not regret the decision, training has been fun. I joined a training group through a running store and it has been the best thing I've ever done. I have met so many wonderful people and I loved the group runs. There were long runs Saturday mornings and mid week workouts on Tuesday or Wednesday every week. There were some killer hill workouts that were different than any hill work I'd ever done before. Training with people who have already run marathons as well as others training for their first one was very helpful. I have really enjoyed the whole process!
My first 18 mile run was done in Traverse City, MI on the TART trails. The TART trails are over 50 miles of paved biking/walking/running/skating trails. I had to be there for the weekend to watch my daughter perform at a music camp in the area so I went up early in the day the day before so I could run 18 miles. I called a running store up there and they got me pointed in the right direction, where to park to access the trail and where to head out to. I had my Garmin to keep track of my distance. I ran 9 miles out and turned around and came back. It went well. I had a goal to do it in less than 3 hours and I did it in 2:58:00. I had to wear my water bottle belt, I sure missed the group runs which have water out on the course for us. Ten miles into the run I wanted to rip the thing off and throw it into the woods!! The following afternoon after the music camp performance I ran on a trail around a lake and then on to the TART trail portion that goes around the Grand Traverse Bay and back to my car for 6.5 miles.
The following morning before I had to leave I went on one last 4 mile run around the Grand Traverse Bay. It was raining but very lightly and it was still warm so I decided to do it. I got alot of looks when I wandered back into the hotel lobby in running clothes and dripping wet and went into the breakfast bar area to get a banana and muffin to take back to my room!!!
My first 20 miler went well except I made a wrong turn, realized it, went back and ended up doing 21.3 miles!! That last 1.3 mile was painful. My longest run was 22 miles 3 weeks ago. I did that in about 3 hrs, 20 minutes. That gave me alot of confidence that I could break 4 hours for the marathon.
So, here I am 2 days away from the big day! The last 3 days I ran without my watch on. That was hard to do. I always like to know how long it took me even on the easy slow recovery runs the day after a long run.
I cannot wait to put one of those 26.2 stickers on the back of my car!!! I have a window paint marker that one of the kids had for a school sports event and after the marathon before starting home I am going to put a BIG 26.2 on the back window!!!! I wanted to get a temporary tatoo, a tiny 26.2 but never found a place to get one. Maybe next time!! (I really do think I'll run another one in the future)

So, there is my pathetic attempt to catch up for 4 months of training!!
Laura