Our Journey to the NYC Marathon: Less Than Two Weeks :)

Melissa's TFK Shirt for the Marathon

Joe's TFK Shirt for the Marathon

Is it horrible to say that I am ready and overly excited? We have had mile by mile conference calls with Team For Kids and logistic ones as well. On each one I have gotten teary eyed. I know pathetic, but in two weeks I/we will be running the NYC Marathon. It is such a dream. I never in all my childhood though I could and would do this.

I know physically I can do the miles and mentally as well since our 26.67 "training" run. I certainly feel relieved that for me the unknown is out of the way. Now I just need to try not to cry too much when I am done. Many of you already know this is a huge accomplishment for me. It will be my first marathon EVER! I do feel, however, that anyone can do it. Yes, that means you, if you are reading this. No, it's not easy and you need to be smart about it. You need to find people that have the knowledge and suck it out of them. Train smart!

As for me it's taper time! I will become the girl in the bubble over the next two weeks. The marathon has been one year in the making. Between training, fundraising and the logistics, we have been working towards this goal since Thanksgiving day last year. I have already had my flu shot. I am Lysol spraying everything(even the kids...just joking...they have all had their flu shot also though). We are pretty much laying low and trying to stay up on our rest. I took the kids skating the other day, but I refused to skate (I know bad mom, but they understand). Joe actually went to play paintball at an overnight game and fell in a four foot ditch....what are the odds. He could not walk last night, but went to the urgent care this am and everything is fine...really? Now you can see why a bubble. So much goes in to training for such a big race whether it be a marathon or ironman(maybe someday) that a cold/virus or anything righ now would be such bad timing.

So what do things look like from here. According to the NYC Marathon tapering should be for three weeks before the marathon. Tapering is hard mentally and physically. For me, it makes me feel like you are slacking off and lazy. However, it's amazing how rested your legs feel when you race. Let alone you feel like a cage animal that has been released. Its a pretty awesome feeling when you finally run.

Today I need to pack. I am already stalking the weather. Not really sure how I will handle rain, but I'm running no matter what, so I may just have pneumonia the week after. We have funky bright yellow old school "singlets" from Team for Kids that we will be wearing, so it won't be hard to spot us. The kids are joining us and my mom is taking them to the finish line. We purchased grandstand tickets so they can be guaranteed to see us. We also bought bright green hats(see below) so we will have an easier time spotting them. Although, we started working for a time and know what we can do we have decided to saver every moment. We are planning on stopping at the grandstand to find the kids and get their picture too! Yes, we will be running with a video/picture camera. There are so many things we will encounter along the way that we will want to share, so what better way to do it. It will be at least an additional week before we will post anything though because we are planning on doing the food tour of New York and long Island:)!