Eight days left

I turned in my resignation to my supervisor today. In return I got a high five of congratulations on the job as well as a "we'll miss you," a nice graceful exit from the job. My last day will be Friday and then I'll spend Saturday through Tuesday panicking about leaving for France.

The marathon is in just five days. It's sort of strange to be planning something as big as running a marathon while having this big move overshadowing it. I do run better at races that I feel more casually about, so I'm hoping my current attitude ("Marathon? What marathon?") will be a plus.

My goal for the marathon is sub-3:15. When I ran the Flying Pig Marathon in May I aimed for 3:20 and finished in 3:23 because I seriously underestimated the hills - especially the effect of the downhills on my poor quads! The Quad Cities Marathon is flatter and I am better trained this time around, so I think 3:15 is pretty reasonable. For the hell of it, here's a summary of this summer's training, with long runs and races in parentheses after the weekly mileage:

June 12-18 ... 57.5 (14; 4-mile race in 25:43)
June 19-25 ... 62 (16)
June 26-July 2 ... 66.2 (14; 10k race in 42:14)
July 3-9 ... 50.3 (16; 15k race in 1:05:51)
July 10-16 ... 71 (18)
July 17-23 ... 71 (14)
July 24-30 ... 45 (16)
July 31-Aug 6 ... 75 (3 11-mile runs; 4 mile race in 25:38)
Aug 7-13 ... 71 (20)
Aug 14-20 ... 60 (14)
Aug 21-27 ... 80 (20)
Aug 28-Sept 3 ... 24 (cut fingers and had stitches)
Sept 4-10 ... 26.1 (5k xc race in 21:59; sick from antibiotic)
Sept 11-17 ... 40 (14)
Sept 18-24 ... Estimated 20-25

After losing some training because of the accident with my fingers and then the reaction to the antibiotic I lost some of my confidence in my fitness. I guess I'm really writing the above training summary to give myself a much-needed confidence boost going into Sunday. Looking at the numbers gives me concrete proof that I've put in the hard work necessary and worrying about it now will do nothing; I just need to trust myself.