Guess who is days away from running 26.2 miles with a hoard of sweaty strangers and a bib pinned to her chest? Yep, it’s Race Week! I will be running marathon #57 at the Surf City marathon in Huntington Beach, CA this Saturday.

I decided to sign up for Surf City after pacing my friend and teammate, Lynne Fiedler, during her blistering DIY marathon on Sunday, May 2nd. I had almost forgotten that familiar pressed feeling of running at a challenging effort for multiple hours, but it instantly flooded back; it felt right, a goldilocks sensation if you will, (and I will). In fact, I wanted to feel that way again, or attempt to feel that way again the first chance I could, so on May 19th I registered to run the Surf City marathon on September 11th.

**Helping the speedy Lynne Fielder clock a 3:24 DIY marathon last May.**

My why behind choosing to run another standalone marathon has never wavered, but how I am going to approach running this marathon has been evolving in my mind for months, and it still is...

Before I raced Ironman Coeur d’Alene, during those wide-eyed weeks when I thought I might be racing at the Ironman World Championships in mid-October, I figured the timing of Surf City would serve as a quality training day during Ironman prep. Then the PNW “Heat Dome” scorched my hopeful Hawaiian dreams, and I swapped a nowhere near achieved Kona slot, for a just sign up, and you can try again, revenge opportunity to race at Ironman California in late-October. Still, no matter which loooong triathlon I lined up for in October, the purpose of Surf City remained the same, it would be another chance to practice running a marathon before my next Ironman.

Therefore, I don’t plan to race Surf City. In fact, I don’t even have a goal finish time in mind, but I do have a goal feeling.

Currently, my run fitness foundation is solid, but inconsistent, as I've been struggling to gain a firm grip on how to wield that fitness. To shed more light on this frustrating phenomena, following are snippets from my inner dialogue after each of the marathon specific workouts leading into Surf City:

Run #1: “Okay, alright, this is where we are right now… Huh… It’s fine, it’s cool, a couple miles felt okay, right?”

Run #2: “Wha??? Who am I right now? I haven’t run that effortlessly fast for a string of miles in years! Woo-Hoo!”

Run #3: “Oh no, this does not feel right. Something is terribly, terribly wrong.”

*No photo was captured after this particularly horrific run.*

True, this will not be my first romp running 26.2 miles (for confirmation, please see the high-50’s number mentioned above), I should know exactly what I am running into: a tough, elating, painful, amazing, and imperfect experience that tests grit and rewards patience.

Thus, for Surf City, I am attempting to be a realist.

I am viewing this rapidly approaching hefty jaunt as a “Spirited long run” vs. a “race”, because not only I am nowhere near reaching my personal best time, I’m in the midst of training for an Ironman, and that’s the real goal; I’m being sensible. But if I am being honest, my inner romantic runner is both giddy and freaked out for another chance to juice my effort and taste the familiar fear laced confidence felt while holding onto a ledge hovering above a valley of pain for hours surviving to the finish.

Sounds like a recipe for a fun Saturday morning, right?

The song and video choice this week is the new single from Halsey that I am obsessed with, “I Am Not A Woman, I’m A God.” The video is intense, but beautiful, although watching it bums me out because I won't be getting dressed up to attend the Emmy's this Sunday due to new COVID protocols. Enjoy.:)