The doubt creeps in

Probably half the people who know me would say I'm pretty confident. The other half would take it a step further and say I'm borderline (or past borderline) cocky. I agree with half of you. I'll be honest, I tend to think that for the most part, whatever I try to do, I can accomplish. When the marathon was weeks and weeks away, it seemed like, sure, no problem. Now that it's less than 2 weeks away, it's a lot more like what the hell did I get myself into. While I'm sure most people running their first marathon have a (or several) can I do this moments, I'm really at that point now. I'm hoping by next week the nervous excitement will start to kick in. But right now, all I can think is that I've dealt with every nagging injury I can, and there is no way I'm going to be healthy (or at least 100% healthy). Even during my short taper runs, my knees have been hurting. I do start to wonder if I can do it. A big part of me knows that I have no off switch when it comes to competition and that I would crawl across the finish line if that's the only way I can make it, but that doesn't help ease my mind. I'm not real good at dealing with doubt because I rarely doubt I can do something, so this week has been difficult mentally for me.