There is an old saying that says "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts", but as I sip on my morning Joe, I think "Beware of wooden horses, better yet, burn them lest they trample your heart." Ya well it sounded poetic at the time.

Long, long ago the city of Troy lay under siege by the Greeks. For over 10 years the Greeks tried to scale the walls of Troy unsuccessfully, nor could the Trojans drive the Greeks away.......until.

Odysseus, a famous Greek general thought of a trick. The best artists and craftsmen would construct a giant horse, within it would lie his best soldiers. It would then be left behind at the gates of Troy as a gesture of defeat and a peace offering. The Trojans hauled the horse into their city and during the night Greek warriors emerged from within the horse, opened the gates to a waiting Greek army who entered and claimed victory over a snoozing city of Troy.

Here then lies the connection:

You are going to Boston to run the marathon. You have repelled weather, injury, dogs, people, bikes and cars. Groggy mornings and sleepless nights. You have endured gels and shot blocks and god knows what else to lift your performance. You survived hunger pains in all hours of the day and a scale that lies to you in the morning.

You have run miles and miles and miles. Some fast and some slow.

You have prepared. You are fit and ready and your confidence level is simmering like my third cup of coffee. You have battled your mind and won, or so you think.

You are Troy and yet there looms within your sights a Trojan horse.....just outside your wall...

If you open the gates of your mind and let it in all hell will break loose.

Panic training will set in.

"I only have a few more weeks. I'll run just a bit further, faster, harder. I don't need to cooldown. I don't need to stretch. I'll skip this meal and go to bed later. I feel fine and maybe a little more is really better." Then there is the classic "Man look what everyone just did on Strava, I am so behind."

Patience is the Royal Flush of the Marathon.

Don't let your guard down.

Don't doubt what you have done or where you have come from.

You earned your place by hard work and progress.

Trust yourself. You are the coach of your own mind.

Don't let your ego derail your path....

and don't let a friggin' wooden horse into your head.