4 weeks to go - Feeling Strong at last

I have had a good week with training. Finally I am feeling like I can do this.

In addition to my morning sessions, I did an 8k run which felt good and was fast, average pace 5m15/k, that is much faster than my marathon pace but I felt strong at the end and finished with a sprint. Good sign.

Then yesterday I ran 35ks along the M7, a great unbroken pedestrian path/cycleway in western Sydney. 2 hours out, 2 hours back. The turnaround point was the hardest mentally, thinking another 2 hours! But I broke it down into 1/2 hour, 5k bits allowing myself a drink at each milestone and it wasn't too bad. There were moments when I stopped for a stretch but I can honestly say it was my best run so far, not lengthy walking stretches and again, I finished strongly (couldn't call it a sprint though!). I did this same run last year as my longest run leading to the race and it was the first time I "hit the wall" while running. I literally was close to tears and angry and refused to move! This year, no such thing so I think I must be doing ok :) I was well rewarded with my large frozen coke from Macca's - do they have them in Paris?

I have woken up today not too sore and no injuries to note. Another good sign.

There has been a shift in my thinking this week. As much as I have been training, until recently, there were still doubts about my ability to finish in Paris. Now finally, I guess right at the right time with 4 weeks to go, I am feeling strong.

This week I will train 6 days again and next Sunday I have entered a 30k race. I'm going to approach it like the main race and look forward to seeing how I do.