It has been an amazing summer and fall and as I sit here trying not to get too excited about the NYC Marathon on Sunday I can’t help but look back on how much has changed since the Brooklyn Half.

Let’s do a quick review. I had wanted to have a huge race for the Brooklyn Half Marathon in May. It was my 15th half marathon and also the location of the first half marathon I ever ran. I wanted that half marathon PR. But the training didn’t go all that well and of course the PR never happened. It did, however, serve as a great wake up call. I knew I had to get focused. So I did the Runner’s World Run Streak Challenge and got back into running consistently. I cam up with a proper nutrition plan and dreamed of hiring a personal trainer.

Slowly things started to improve. I never knew my love for running could get even bigger than it was. I am running so much better and since the beginning of July I have PR’d in every distance except for the 3 mile (I only run one of those every May), 5k (haven’t run one recently), and the marathon (that baby is next week).

I have gotten faster and earned myself a new starting corral for NYRR races. I may have to change this blog’s tag line from “I may not run fast, but I do run” to something else soon. Right now I’m thinking along the lines of “Holy crap, I’m in the powder blue corral now!”

My new average pace is based on my NYRR 5th Avenue Mile result. The funny thing is that I had told myself not to race that because I had to add on 12 extra miles after that. But, thankfully, I didn’t listen to myself or anyone else for that matter.

The Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff 5 Miler in Central Park was the first race I got my new bib. I leapfrogged from back of the pack, over the pink corral, and smack dab into the powder blue corral. As excited as I was for that I was really nervous and worried. I wasn’t sure I belonged there. Yes, I ran a fast mile but this was a five mile race. Could I maintain that pace and not feel like I was being passed by everyone and even worse feel like an imposter.

At first, I was going to start in the pink corral but then decided to start in the powder blue corral but near the back. I met some friends, also in the corral, and started to feel better about being there. When the race started, I was feeling good and keeping up with the people in my corral and even started to pass some of them. The amazing thing was that I never felt as though I was pushing myself really hard and I ended up with yet another PR.

My splits for the race showed a couple of fast miles but an overall steady pace that confirmed I did indeed belong with this group of powder blue corral people. Sometimes, we just need those little confidence boosters to confirm what we already know. This also gave me the final confirmation that my marathon goal time is correct and that I can maintain that pace. This is an amazing feeling.