Alas, that fateful day has come and gone. A marathon under my belt and four giant ice packs on my legs. So I’ll preface this by saying, this is not a story where everything clicked into place, the stars aligned, and I effortless cast myself upon the finish line. This is more like a modern day Disney film. There’s a happy ending, but certainly some heartache along the way. I woke up Sunday morning with a range of emotions spinning inside my head. I picked out my outfit the night before. Sitting on the hotel room desk was my black and white running shorts and a cotton Livestrong t-shirt that sat comfortably across my shoulders and was just soft enough to prolong any nipple irritation. Along with my predetermined apparel, I practiced choosing my attitude as easily as I did my outfit. A positive mentality seemed to be one of the paramount tips to running a marathon. Seems easy enough reading it in a 300 word article, but walking at 5:30 in the morning amongst thousands of other runners to stand behind a long, narrow, white line makes it a little bit harder to maintain this focus.
We tend to have very critical self-perceptions. The way we view ourself is important. We are the authority of our beliefs and if we do not see ourselves in a confident light than how can we expect others to. 
