Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Finding my way (blog-wise)
This blog has gotten off to a slow start. I really do want to get to writing about some substantial issues and themes. My biggest challenge at this time is to find the time to write well about these things. I don't want this to be one of those "I had pancakes for breakfast, than I ran 5 miles and my time was 42 minutes" kind of blogs. I don't think those training-journal kinds of entries are worthy of a blog. Mmy aim is to go further--I want to convey what the experience feels like, and discuss issues that I ponder, etc.
However, there will be some of that sort of detail, since these details further the narrative of the marathon preparation. Running is not the focus of my life-- far from it. But it will be the primary focus of this blog. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the marathon quest will serve as a framework for my ramblings. Without such a structure this would be a mess, or, more likely, it would be abandoned.
Anyway, as for today I ran in spite of a bad cold. Maybe I should have rested, but I'm feeling behind in my training, and tomorrow is not a running day, so I pushed myself to do so today. I ran along the Charles river. Those of us in the Boston/Cambridge area are lucky to have the river paths--you can get any number of distances by choosing which bridges to run between. See, for example, http://www.soundkeepers.com/running/boston.html
The route was 3.5 miles to the best of my reckoning. I ran a "regular" pace, neither pushing or holding back. I ran it in about 25 minutes. That's about 7:10 a mile. That's hard to believe, so I'm doubting I got the distance right. However, even with a margin of error that time gives me hope that the goal of running the marathon at an 8 minute pace is possible. (For the record, my only 10 mile race was done with slightly-over-8-minute miles). Hal Higdon say that as a first timer I should focus on winning, not speed, but I can't completely let go of the idea of a good race time.
However, there will be some of that sort of detail, since these details further the narrative of the marathon preparation. Running is not the focus of my life-- far from it. But it will be the primary focus of this blog. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the marathon quest will serve as a framework for my ramblings. Without such a structure this would be a mess, or, more likely, it would be abandoned.
Anyway, as for today I ran in spite of a bad cold. Maybe I should have rested, but I'm feeling behind in my training, and tomorrow is not a running day, so I pushed myself to do so today. I ran along the Charles river. Those of us in the Boston/Cambridge area are lucky to have the river paths--you can get any number of distances by choosing which bridges to run between. See, for example, http://www.soundkeepers.com/running/boston.html
The route was 3.5 miles to the best of my reckoning. I ran a "regular" pace, neither pushing or holding back. I ran it in about 25 minutes. That's about 7:10 a mile. That's hard to believe, so I'm doubting I got the distance right. However, even with a margin of error that time gives me hope that the goal of running the marathon at an 8 minute pace is possible. (For the record, my only 10 mile race was done with slightly-over-8-minute miles). Hal Higdon say that as a first timer I should focus on winning, not speed, but I can't completely let go of the idea of a good race time.
