Here it goes...

Yesterday was planning and organizing day and today was the first official training day. It was only a running day and I've been consistently running for several months, so it wasn't a big day physically, but mentally it was. Now it seems official - and more scary.

During my run, BW and I talked about how far we have come in the last five years. Thanksgiving Day 2005 I ran my first 10K - it was the farthest I had ever run up to that point. He has overcome much more than I have - smoking and a collapsed lung which resulted in half of it being removed. Now we are both healthy and fit - and dare I call myself an endurance athlete? At least an aspiring one...

I am not sure how this ritual started, but my junior year in high school I read The Little Engine That Could before every track meet. It was a great track year for me. Maybe the book boosted my confidence - or maybe it was my lucky socks I wore to every meet (yes, they were washed in between) - either way the book has very special meaning to me. My success that year made me extremely terrified of failure my senior year. Fear coupled with a concussion at the beginning of track season made me not run my senior year.

In 2011 I am looking fear in the face, remembering how far I have come and reciting my mantra "I think I can. I think I can. I think I can."