"Finisher."

Tomorrow, I am running my first half-marathon.

Just a few weeks ago, while pounding the W&OD trail from Leesburg to Purcellville, I was ready to quit at the 11 mile mark. My brain could grasp only one word, repeated with every step:

Finisher.

A few months back, Runner's World had an article on creating mantras to help oneself through the toughest part of a workout or race. It was great, if mildly bemusing. And as you can tell, it's helped.

I'm excited about tomorrow's race. It will NOT begin with snow (as did my last long race).

Tomorrow WILL start early (as in, 5am early--blargh!).

And I have a feeling it will end with me looking even happier than my last big race:

Because at the end of tomorrow's half-marathon, this crazy guy will be waiting for me.

Yup, my brother is flying in at the last possible minute to see me race!! And I didn't know anything about this until about 24 hours ago!

So not only do I have a mantra, I now have a whole three-to-five person cheering squad. All the more reason to be a

Finisher.