It has been a while since I worried about a pre-race report. And this won't be much of one.
Sunday I run the Philadelphia Marathon. My first stand alone marathon since 2003.
Much has changed since then. I toe the line as a different athlete. Despite all the changes, certain things hold true. Maybe that's why my pre-ironman email address was OnlySpirit. I believe the spirit of an athlete lives in all of us. It's so easy to get caught up in finish times and hardware. But the more elite athletes I talk to, certain truths are self evident. Even when you are running for first place, the biggest battles are internal. This quotation sums it up for me.
"It's very hard to understand in the beginning that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants to quit.
Dr. George Sheehan"
You can't control who shows up on race day but you can push yourself to give your best effort.
That's all I ask of myself.
