March 17th, 2007
This semester has been a landslide! I've breathed for the first time since the marathon last Friday when my Spring Break started.

Let me tell you the endurance that I gained from the marathon has translated into my work habits. The week before spring break was a marathon in itself! I had planned to start studying 3 weeks in advance and had started regularly going to the Chem Tutorial Room to do 3 packed hours of organic homework. Still, it's not an exam week if I'm not verging on the speed of light in order to complete everything in time. Physics was finally becoming logical and I was starting to get the hang of it just in time for the test to come and me to realized that I had an orgo exam in 24 hours. Physics mania, then orgo mania, then realized that orgo homework was due at 12am on the test day not the day after. Who assigns physics homework on the Friday before Spring Break on material we only lightly touched on? Hernandez my teacher, that's who. Oh yes, and my physics lab report was due, not to mention I was anxious to know if I had been appointed to be an RA for the summer and/or the next year. At noon I had 5 hours to go till I heard about the position, had to have my HW in and I was kicked out of the dorms. With strength that I didn't know I possessed I finished all my tasks with flawless execution and recieved two acceptance emails. Not only did I get both positions but I'll be an RA for Kenan community! Some RA candidates were saying that they would only accept the position if they got the better communities like Kenan. I was hoping just to get any position and now I'll be working the community that all of my friends are in! So this has been an anecdote of how my semester has been going.
Anyways, now I'm finally able to catch you all up on the marathon! So I was finally starting to run regular half marathons by myself. The day I ran the 20 miles I went to church at home, was dropped off at Chapel Hill and then hit ground running. The key to doing anything is to Just Do It and keep going. I've been called the Juggernaut because I have 99% momentum and 1% stopping power. One of these days I'm going to bowl over an old lady.

Since blogging is not my forte, I'm piecing together the random notes I wrote to reconstruct this whole experience. I sent this letter to some of you, but if you've read this blog it is also directed to you.

Dear Family and Friends,
Last Saturday I ran the Myrtle Beach Marathon and accomplished one of my life goals. You were such an influential motivator in achieving this goal! Some of you were dedicated runners and by your example I learned to love running. Others of you ran marathons and I was so awestruck that I wanted to finish one too. Many of you listened to me talk about my runs in gory detail and encouraged me in my training. Regardless of the role you played, all of you taught me to perservere, to seek higher goals and to do the best I could do. You all are incredibly inspiring people and I am so thankful to know you! I hope you are all doing well!
Liz

January 28th, 2007
I ran 20 miles today! Holy crap! It's so mindblowing for me to physically train for a marathon. 20 miles is 80% of a marathon and I could snap through the first 8 miles like it was a warm up. It was even more mindblowing that I was able to coach myself through the last 6 miles. This ability is so important because then the race is something I do for myself and not because someone else is pushing me. I didn't think our program would go past 18 until I got to practice. So the idea of doing the marathon was to run 20 miles for my 20th birthday because it's the number of years I'll be but also because the 20th mile is "the wall", where you physiologically breakdown. The point is not the wall but it's getting over it and accomplishing even bigger things.