Nearly There: Marathon Training Update

So I didn't end up writing much about my marathon training cycle, mostly because I didn't want to curse myself. Writing about it would've made it real, made it possible to screw up. Instead I stayed quiet and kept on running. Now it's probably safe to put it out there: I'm running a marathon on Sunday! For real. No joke.  

Um. 

Holy crap. 

This winter was hard, man. I truly thought things would end up a bit milder than forecast, but no--it snowed, it hailed, it thawed, it froze over again, it snowed some more. It was windy, it was dark, it was miserable, and I was out there every damn day. Well, five days a week at least. How I managed to keep  my training consisten in such terrible conditions, I'll never know. I didn't do as much speedwork as planned, but I did pull out two 21 mile long runs (along with 3 30ks and a few 28ks, too). I ran Around the Bay in March and managed a nearly four minute personal best, even running a negative split over the last (hilly) 10k. I mean...really? 

I don't feel as fast as I did this time last year, but I think I'm stronger. I've got more mileage under my belt, I've got my head on straight. I've got this...right? 

Let's see how this goes.