And the decision is..........

I have decided to continue training for the marathon this spring! On April 22, 2017, I will be a marathoner at the Illinois Marathon.  I have yet to send in my registration, but will do that in the next few weeks when I have the money to do so. At this point, I feel like I'm naturally progressing to those 26.2 miles, and I have been training all along with this thought of  running the marathon. Since I am 12 weeks into the program, with no intention of stopping, I am officially making the marathon my goal.  However, I'm still keeping the same goal of just finishing...walking at water/aide stops, especially later on, but and not focusing on time. I really want to go out there, and prove to myself that I can do that distance,  and have the best possible race I can. Plus, the thought of being in the "top 1%" of something sounds really nice, too!

So far, I have already hit these lines of questions during my training:
Am I scared of seeing these increased miles? Oh heck yes.
Am I ready to tackle them? Gradually, and have already hit 6 miles twice, and will hit it again at the end of next week.
 Will I have my doubts about being able to do it? Check those off already.
Will I want to quit? Yep, but I won't. I may have rough runs where I might even have to walk some here and there, but I won't quit unless something really dramatic happens. If a plan A won't work for a week, I'll figure out a a plan B to get the job done.
Will I also have those absolute kick butt runs where I feel like I can run forever? Oh yeah. I will need to hang onto those runs for the tough times.
What will keep me going? Picturing myself crossing that finish line in one piece with the biggest smile on my face, and thinking about my runing buddy that I dedicate runs to, and for those who need extra moral support for whatever reason.
What will crossing that finish line feel like? Absolutely exhausting, but hopefully the best feeling ever!