Me Run Fast One Day?

I'm getting ready to start Summer/Fall training with my running club. This is my second year of running this season and I find I'm approaching it quite differently.

Last year I was running and it all was shiny and new. I would go into a race not really knowing what I could do and I would amaze myself with what I did. I did 2 half marathons and 1 full marathon last year. I wasn't always happy with my time, but I was never too disappointed either.

This Spring, I went into a half marathon with a time goal. I PR'd by 2 minutes. I set my stretch goal for Bolder Boulder at 53 minutes and I ran 54:51, not so good but the best I could do that day.

I'm currently signed up for 2 marathons: Denver Marathon and Disney World Marathon. I put my times in the Running Calculator and they tell me that I should be able to run somewhere between a 4:15 to a 4:29 marathon. Realize that a 4:15 marathon would be almost a 1 hour improvement over my last time. So I wonder--am I capable of this?

I feel like the person who told their story of learning a language on NPR. They heard the fluent speakers around them and they wondered "Me talk pretty one day"? I see others run and I feel like a shetland pony in a herd of thoroughbreds.

I'm not saying I want to win a race or anything, that would be pretty delusional. I want to run the best race I am capable of. I want to find out what I can do, and I don't want to give up on myself.

So I wonder--"Me run fast one day"?