The worst is over and the best is yet to come

Yesterday my teammate Jane M. and I did our last long run before the Ottawa Marathon, 32Km from Kanata to Bank Street. I am grateful that I didn’t have to do this one alone...although we got distracted and ran above our target pace a few times, one of us seemed to eventually notice and we were able to stay mostly on pace. I was especially glad to have Jane with me as we tackled the last 2Km...things were starting to tighten up and my calves were starting to feel a lot like they did in Hamilton. Thanks for being there Jane and for keeping me going to that virtual 32Km marker.

We weren’t the only “purple people” out for a long run that day, we ran into another of our teammates, Kailena out for a post training jaunt with her “puppy” Faeryn, there really is strength in numbers!

Which leads me to my next point...over the last few months as I bombarded people with requests for donations, status updates about my progress (both fundraising and training) and blog entries, I have been overwhelmed by the generosity, support and encouragement that I have received from so many. Each of these people has found their own way to give, some financially, some through support and encouragement, some through sharing their experience and advice, and some by all of the above, but each person has in some way contributed to my ability to come this far...and each of you will have played a part in getting me to the starting line for my first marathon...here at home...and I cannot wait.

For the next few weeks, I will be following the sage advice of my experienced friends...enjoying the taper, the rest and recovery and I am looking forward to running the longest race of my life (so far) on fresh legs, injury free!!

To those of you who will be watching the marathon, I’ll be looking for your faces in the crowd, I hope to see you or at least hear you, or your cowbell ;-)

P.S. If you’re planning on heading down to watch the marathon, I would love it if you would inflate a purple balloon...you may not see me in the thousands of people running...and I may not see your face in the crowd, but I will be watching for those balloons, hopefully that will allow me to see you and at the very least, I will know you were there to cheer me on and that may just be what it takes to keep me going and get me across that finish line.