Marathon debut eve

It's the night before my first ever marathon!
I spent all day trying not to think about how hard it will be to run so far tomorrow and, because I was so focused on NOT thinking about it, I ended up thinking about it more!
I tried tricking myself into doing mundane house jobs (like taking a load of green waste to the tip) and spent the whole time saying to myself 'should you be doing this the day before a marathon?' 'could you injure yourself doing this?'

Wow! What will I be like the week before the ultramarathon!?

Fortunately, my endo won't be a problem tomorrow thanks to my body clock changing it's calendar a couple of months ago of it's own accord (very lucky!). Unfortunately, I do have a bit of a bowel issue going on at the moment (endo and bowel issues often go hand in hand; many girls are diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome either after they learn they have endo or as a misdiagnosis for their endo symptoms in the early stages of diagnosis) and it is making me a bit nervous about the run. Stomach pain and bowel issues aren't in my race plan!! I have noted that there seem to be a number of toilets on the course so that's a bit more reassuring but it is anyone's guess what mood my bowel will be in tomorrow (or if the stomach pain I have in bed right now will be a distant memory before the start of the race...)

Apart from a few nerves, I am mostly excited about the race. I'm looking forward to crossing the finish line and being able to say I've run a marathon! I am trying not to do anything differently to my training, so I've decided to carry my hydration vest and have my usual pre run breakfast of a banana. I'm planning on running with the ladies in my running group for as long as possible, so we can chat away the kilometers and hopefully distract ourselves from being overwhelmed by the enormity of the task.

I have a very different feeling going in to tomorrow's marathon than I did the night before my first half Ironman. I spent that eve worried sick about not making the cut off time in the swim and regretting my terrible training in the lead up to the event. This time around, I know I have put the hard yards into the training and feel quite confident that I can make the distance (which is my only goal for the day).

Time wise, I would love to get as close to five hours as possible, but realise I am at the mercy of my body and how I'm feeling on the day... Oh, and I need to remember that this race is really just a training run for the big 50km event in four weeks' time.

Oh well, time to try and sleep off this stomach pain then get up and start running​ and just keep going!