Less than one week until the Cleveland Marathon 10K

Omg. The Cleveland Marathon 10k is less than a week away. Or a week away, depending on how you look at it.

I'm so nervous. And I don't know why. I've run in plenty of races before. But never a 10K. I'm trying to improve my defeatist attitude, though. I encouraged my friend to run a 5k last weekend. Why shouldn't I be happy that I'm capable to run a 10k? Sure, a half-marathon might be more in line with my goals (one of those goals being that if Oprah can run a half-marathon, why can't I?), but it's still quite an accomplishment to finish a 10k.

Today I plan on running at least 6 miles to make sure my legs, knees, lungs, and anything else that might give me trouble are ready for the race. I'm going to try an energy gel on my run to see if that actually makes a difference. On a recent trip to a sporting goods store I discovered Cliff Shot - an all natural energy booster/performance enhancer. Unlike most of the other gels I've seen, the Cliff varieties are pretty much all natural. I'm already a super fan of the Cliff Z bars since they're surprisingly filling for only 130 calories, so hopefully this little 100 energy shot will be just as satisfying.