Adventures of a marathon girl

Hi guys...well here we go! I finished up my training for my first half marathon ever. Started tapering yesterday and I picked up my startnumber this afternoon. Is this really going to happen? I know it will and once again I find myself nervous and excited at the same time. I think it will hurt like hell and I know I will get to a point where I just really want to not run anymore but I also know that finishing this half marathon will be so much more than a 13.1 mile run. This run signifies the end of a horrible year that started around august first 2012 when I lost my dreamjob. Alas I hand't seen the worst yet because last year right about this time I got my second attack of Neuralgic Amyotrophy and with that I lost movement in my left shoulder. Yet again I endured the most intense pain imaginable (I asked my partner to put a pillow over my head because I couldn't take it anymore)and after the nerves died (which is what happens) I lost the ability to lift my left arm. So the

An early start this morning. Nobody said it would be easy right? Tell you something...it is NOT. I love the way running makes me feel and the mere thought of finishing that half marathon October 20th just makes me happy but the hours I'm putting in to this are insane. My whole life seems to twirl around my running schedule. I get up at six in the morning on my only day off in a seven day week just because I have to eat breakfast before I go for a 11km run. I know I can't make it without my oatmeal so I set the alarm, grind my beans while half asleep, poor hot water into a filter and end up with a huge thermos full of tar black coffee. When my eyes finally do start to adjust and I'm actually able to understand what it is they are saying on the morning news, I get up to get my sacred oatmeal ritual going. Making the perfect bowl of oatmeal is something of an art and it helps me in my own proces of getting ready for a run. First I measure half a cup of organic oatmeal and t