Jill has prepared well and put in some good training runs leading up to this point. But it's right now (8 hours before the race) that you can't help but feel as if you should have put in more time in training. It's just like Thomas Monson has said many times quoting an unknown author, "When the time for performance has arrived, the time for preparation has passed."
I too have felt this way many times most recently a few years ago the night of my first marathon. Thoughts haunted me, "Why am I even doing this? I can't run this far, Running isn't even fun." But of course this is just Stinkin' Thinkn'. Lessons learned from running can be compared to lessons that we can apply to our lives.
Of course running isn't the most fun thing to do all of the time, but when you do it you feel so much better the rest of the day. The day of a big race isn't so much about running, as it is about following through with a goal. It's about challenging yourself to do something more with your life, and the race itself is a culmination of some terrific training runs. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith once sang, "Life's a journey not a destination." The training runs should be as much a part of the race as crossing the finish line. In fact even crossing the finish line doesn't end the journey. The last step of your first 10K is actually the first step of your next 10K.
One of my favorite things to remember before a race is some of the best advise Hollywood has ever given. It came from the mouth of a drunken baseball manager speaking to a woman baseball player who wanted to quit. He said to her as she complained that baseball just got to "hard". "It's supposed to be hard, if it wasn't hard everyone would be doing it. Hard is what makes it great!" No truer words have been spoken about all rewarding things in life, and it came from the great Tom Hanks as spoken to Gina Davis in A League of Their Own. (Malena post that clip on your website).
I have all the confidence in the world that Jill will run a terrific race. If anything it will be a memory for a very long time as she is surrounded by those she loves most who are also running tomorrow. To Jill, Jen, Shanel, Kandis, and Jodi, good luck tomorrow as you run, and know that it will indeed be "hard". Hard is what makes it great.
This is me crossing the finish line at the St. George Marathon, and my family gathered around me after the finish.
