Marathon mind tricks

I am finding it harder and harder to concentrate as the marathon gets closer. I think I am going to be completely useless by Friday! I've also fallen victim to two common pre-marathon mental tricks...

Mental Trick #1 - "Phantom Pains"
The little ache in my knee and in the ball of my foot, now seem to have grown 20x worse and this morning I could have sworn there was something very wrong with my toe. Ahhhh, the mental tricks your mind goes through right before a big race....it's enough to drive you insane if you dwell on it. So, my goal is to stay busy enough to not let myself think about it.

Mental Trick #2 - OMG, I can't run!
For some reason, even a simple little treadmill run seems to get harder as the marathon gets closer. Another pre-marathon mental thing! You try a short, easy run the week before and all of a sudden it seems so hard! You begin to think, "OH MY GOD, if I can't run for 30 minutes on the treadmill, HOW IN THE HELL am I going to run 26.2???" Maybe this doesn't happen to anyone else, but it has happened to me before every marathon. I have make myself take a deep breath and remind myself that this is all a part of the process. Then, I reassure myself, "You have been training for 6+ months! You are not injured, it's all in your head. You CAN do this! You WILL do this!". After awhile, I actually start to believe it.

In other news...I mentioned the other day that the inserts in my shoes were slipping, so thanks to the great advice from the Houston Fit website discussion board, I decided to try putting the inserts from my old Saucony shoes into my new shoes. I hopped on the treadmill and within about 7 or 8 minutes, I could feel the inserts slipping just a little. Grrrrr... I kept running and the inserts didn't seem to slip as much as the new ones did, but they slipped enough to make me a bit worried. Why does this crap have to happen right before the marathon??? Murphy's law, I suppose! I think Murphy has taken up residence in my guest room this week! Can someone come kick him out for me? I did manage to finish my "easy" 30 minute run.

I've also decided to not let myself get so damn stressed. I have been stressing myself out about getting the house clean for the in-laws arrival today (they're babysitting our dog), catching up everything at work, trying to wake up early and stay up late to read for school, getting all packed, running errands for trip-related items, etc. Then, because the hubby is doing some intense SWAT training at work, I have been responsible for taking the kiddo to school, picking her up from my parents in the afternoon and all the other kiddo-related responsibilities that the hubby and I usually share. (many props go out to the single moms...I couldn't do it!) So, it's been a hectic week and my type A personality is making me stress more than I need to...and stress just wastes energy that I could definitely use on Sunday! Starting today - no more stressing! Yeah, well that's easier said than done!