The final hour is now upon us.  I leave for Vancouver in the wee hours of the morning.  I’m packed…well, sort of.  If you count an open suitcase on my bedroom floor with a pile of stuff thrown in that general vicinity over the past few days “packed”.  Should I be sleeping right now?  Probably.  Although, the chance of that being very successful tonight is unlikely.  Steve and I have been texting and the challenge is on to see which one of us will be asleep first when we get on that plane.

I’m ready for this.  I’ve trained hard for this race.  And now it’s time to trust my training.  I’m bib #2423 and I’m ready.  Did I already say that?  I need to keep reminding myself.

As is usually the case during the last week of the taper, I have begun to doubt myself.  I feel slow.  I go between feelings of “I can totally do this!” and “Can I really do this?” within a matter of seconds, it’s like the runners version of Bi-Polar.

I’ve seen all of my running peeps this week.  I’ve heard “You got this Girl” and “I believe in you” more times than I can count.  I’m gathering all the good vibes and mojo that I can.  I’ve been getting emails and texts wishing me the best.

My friend Katherine stopped by the store the other day with a present and a note.  The present was a pair of socks that say Badass.  Her note read: “Lindsey, Just a small reminder of all the hard work you put into training for Vancouver.  You have done all you can and you are ready.  Run strong, have fun and best wishes for a great race”.  I hope some of her speed rubs off on me.  This girl just ran a personal best of 3:17 at Boston, finishing early enough to claim her medal and get clear of the finish line before the nightmare began.

I got to run with Liz on Tuesday, who celebrated my last PR in December 2011 with a ballet slipper Christmas ornament (she couldn’t find a running shoe) since she was my Secret Santa.

Faith and I met this morning at Starbucks for our standing Thursday coffee date before we opened the store.  She had a present for me that included some of my favorite treats, an Awesome journal (seriously, it’s called The Journal of Awesome) and sticker labels of inspirational quotes to put on my GU’s for the race.

Marxkors came by the store today, just to give me a good luck hug and rub some of her speed on me.  And I finally had her sign my copy of her book, The Lola Papers, which I plan to read on the flight tomorrow, if I can stay awake.  I’ve read her inscription a couple times, but it keeps making me cry.

I ran with Nicole after work.  It seemed appropriate for us to run together one last time before we head off to our separate marathons in different parts of the world, since we did so many of our training runs together.  We got in a quick 3 miles this afternoon in the humidity.  We talked race apparel, nutrition, strategy, pace.  We both feel just a little better knowing that we’ll be running a marathon on the same day, even though with the time change I will be starting about the time she is done.   Both of us running in matching red Riders.

I think the only person who I didn’t see this week, that I felt like I should have, in order to bring the whole thing full circle, was Nick, since all of this started at his birthday dinner back in December when Steve said, “I think I’m going to run Vancouver for my birthday”.  Unfortunately, I don’t think Steve will even be able to run me into the finish, but he’ll be waiting to celebrate with me when I’m done.  Nick’s and my last text exchange went like this:

Nick: Rock that marathon.  You’ve trained hard and earned a PR.

RRG: I haven’t earned it yet, but I’m gonna give it my best shot.

One of the best things that any of my friends said to me this week was “It’s impossible to really feel pain when you’re smiling”.  I’m going to hold on to that at Mile 17, or 18, or 19, or 20, or whenever I hit the wall.  And I’m going to smile.  Because that’s what Rambling Runner Girl does when she’s running.

I ran 16 in the rain, 17 in the cold with some sleet, 18 in a blizzard, 19 in wind and 20 in heat and humidity.  Welcome to marathon training in the Midwest!  I’m ready for any weather Canada decides to throw at me.  Of course, I’ve said that before…thanks, Hurricane Irene.  The forecast in Vancouver is calling for much warmer temps than the average for this time of year, a high of 75!  What?!  55 and sunny at the start, let’s hope it doesn’t heat up too much.

This 26.2 means a lot. I’m going to push myself. It’s going to be hard.  But it’s supposed to be hard.  If it was easy, everyone would do it. I’m prioritizing my goals as good/better/best.

Good: A PR, anything better than 3:47:11.

Better: Beating my old BQ time before the BAA dropped the times, anything better than 3:45:59.

Best: BQ, faster than 3:40.  That’s a tall order.  But this is a new day.  I’m a new girl.  Both figuratively and literally, since this is my first marathon ever as Lindsey Jacobs.  Ultimately, I just want to go run a great race and be happy crossing the finish because I laid it all on the line.  In the words of Pre, “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift”.

But here’s the big question…what do I have to lose by believing that I can accomplish all that I want to in this race?  Even if I don’t accomplish all of it, it doesn’t mean I can’t, it just means I didn’t this time.  So I will believe that I can.  And I will go after it.  With all of my heart and everything I have I will go after that 3:39:59.

Today, as I left out the back door of the store, sweaty from my run with Nicole, I heard Faith yell “Get ‘er done!” and AJ followed that with “Break a Leg…are we supposed to say that?”  The point is this…regardless of what the final result is on Sunday, I have never felt so loved and supported in any of my marathons before this one.  I have a phenomenal cheering section.  And that is better than any race shirt, or finisher’s gear, or medal I could ever earn.  My people…that’s my real PR.

Some of the items to go in my carry on