It’s 6:30 in the morning and I’m staring down the 26.2 miles that lay ahead of me on a glorious, sunrise-lit stretch of Highway 1 from California’s Big Sur north toward Carmel. This moment, standing near the starting line before the race begins, is where I’m supposed to reflect and be grateful that I’ve made it this far. All the training, all those preparatory miles and early morning runs, are behind me now. But all I can think about is how far I still have to go.

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