My Marathon Goals

I can’t believe there is less than a week until the Chicagoland Spring Marathon!  This past week has allowed me to reflect on my goals for this upcoming race and what I ultimately want my goal pace to be.  This is something I have been thinking about for a while, and some of you have asked about it.  

Looking back on my 22 mile run that was an “easy” 8:22/mile and my 20 mile race pace run at 7:55 average pace, I’m revising my goals to be a BQ.  

Holy shit I can’t believe I just typed that.

I feel like just saying it out loud I’m going to jinx it.  

While I am not a superstitious person, this might just make me pull out my lucky rabbit’s foot and tie it onto my shoe laces.

This is not a new thought that has recently popped into my head.  I’ve had the goal of running Boston for a while.  Over the past year as my mile times decreased and as I’ve gained the endurance to maintain a faster mile pace, the idea of a BQ has been growing larger and more prominent in the back of my mind.  

The only uncertainity that is throwing me off is the fact that I haven’t run the marathon distance in 2.5 years.  And my PR is only 4:02:03.  I have yet to break the 4 hour mark.  I don’t know if I’m crazy thinking I can get a 30 minute PR, but I really do think I can.  

So now that that is out there… My goal pace for the run will be around an 8 minute mile.  Knowing that it takes me 2 to 3 miles to really warm up and for my legs to start turning over comfortably, an 8 minutes mile goal pace will give me enough wiggle room. 

Here goes nothing.  I am aiming for a BQ on May 17. Bring out the lucky rabbit’s feet.

Today's run was my last race pace tune-up run.  My legs felt rested after having two days off of running.

7 miles

55:19

7:54/mile

It was, again, too easy to go faster than race pace, so I will need to keep an eye on my pace for the first few miles of the marathon to avoid burn out later on.  

After my run Peyton and I went for a long walk and I let her off leash again.  It was a gorgeous day and it was perfect for being outside.

Do you have any races you are training for?

What did you do outside today?