How do you eat an elephant?

Warning: Boring running talk ahead.

Apparently, you eat an elephant the same way you run a marathon. Bites...Miles...Same thing. Now that I am 7 weeks away from this race, I would've thought that I could at least wrap my head around 26.2. Nope. I cannot. My longest run so far was last Saturday at 16 miles. I thought I was going to die. I often ask myself, "Could I have run 3 more? 2 more? 1 more?" Sometimes I can say yes to 1 or 2 more, but last week I'm pretty sure I could not have gone 30 more seconds, much less a full mile. And today was an "easy" week with my long run being only 12 miles. At 7 weeks away from race day, this should be a breeze, right? So then why did I struggle the whole time? (In full disclosure, I started out with sore leg muscles from doing squats all day Friday while sewing - up and down from the floor, cutting and pinning, etc) And next weekend I am supposed to run 18. I can't even imagine how that is going to happen.

But here's what I CAN do. 3 miles. I run 3 miles and get a chewy treat. I've become one of those freakish runner people who has to strap water to my waist and eat strange goo things to keep my body moving. I thought it was all smoke and mirrors until I read a couple of articles and then actually felt the difference it makes when you feed your body along the way. After experimenting with a few different products I settled on Clif Shot Bloks (think square gummy bears). I get to eat one shot blok every 3 miles. Which means I also get to walk for about 45 seconds while I eat and get a drink of water. It's good for my body but also great for my mind. 3 miles. I can wrap my brain around that.

Unfortunately, even that trick doesn't get me through the whole elephant. It's traditional for a first time marathoner to only train up to 20 miles. After that, it's pure mental prowess that will get you to the end. I talked to Coach Jason and he said that once I made it to 20, I would have to run six, one mile races. Not even my chunks of 3 can save me then. Just one mile. Six times.