Friday, October 27, 2006
Last pre-marathon post
In two days I run the marathon! Hopefully, at this minute two days from now I will recovering from the run (otherwise I won't have run a sub-four-hour race). My goals are as follows:
Crazy, Unrealistic, But Techically Not Impossible Goal: qualify for Boston, finishing in under 3:20:59.
Optimistic But Not Likely Goal: 3:30.
Pleased With My Performance Goal: under 4 hours.
A Little Disappointed But Proud To Have Finished: any time, as long as I cross the finish on my own legs.
Have To Admit I'm Pretty Disappointed, But It Was Fun Trying: having to drop out before the finish.
I feel good. I think a finish around 3:45 is quite possible. I don't remember if I said this already, but after my 20 miler, I realized I could run the other 6.2 miles at a ten minute pace and still cover the distance in under 4 hours. That 20 miler is what gives me so much confidence. Sure, it was really hard, but I did it, and I have a couple of weeks of light training behind me now.
My biggest concern now is the weather. The forecast is for good temps (40's) but very windy. Winds of 30 m.p.h.! Gusts up to 60! My only consolation is that with a loop course, at least half of the time the wind is going to be at your back. To the best I can figure, the wind will be behind me during the worse part of the course, the hills of Sippawisett. They say the course is designed intentionally so that when you are most exposed on the coast, the wind direction is favorable.
This would be a good time to express thanks. I am very grateful to have had the good health to get this far. My brother Matt had to opt out due to knee trouble, somehow I have managed to avoid the same.
Special thanks to my wife Nova for her support and encouragement, her patience in listening to be obsess about the details of this whole endeavor, etc! Also, in the final month of running the training really bit into the family schedule.
So next post will have the results of what happens on Sunday! After that, this blog will switch gears and be more focused on general weight loss management stuff.
Crazy, Unrealistic, But Techically Not Impossible Goal: qualify for Boston, finishing in under 3:20:59.
Optimistic But Not Likely Goal: 3:30.
Pleased With My Performance Goal: under 4 hours.
A Little Disappointed But Proud To Have Finished: any time, as long as I cross the finish on my own legs.
Have To Admit I'm Pretty Disappointed, But It Was Fun Trying: having to drop out before the finish.
I feel good. I think a finish around 3:45 is quite possible. I don't remember if I said this already, but after my 20 miler, I realized I could run the other 6.2 miles at a ten minute pace and still cover the distance in under 4 hours. That 20 miler is what gives me so much confidence. Sure, it was really hard, but I did it, and I have a couple of weeks of light training behind me now.
My biggest concern now is the weather. The forecast is for good temps (40's) but very windy. Winds of 30 m.p.h.! Gusts up to 60! My only consolation is that with a loop course, at least half of the time the wind is going to be at your back. To the best I can figure, the wind will be behind me during the worse part of the course, the hills of Sippawisett. They say the course is designed intentionally so that when you are most exposed on the coast, the wind direction is favorable.
This would be a good time to express thanks. I am very grateful to have had the good health to get this far. My brother Matt had to opt out due to knee trouble, somehow I have managed to avoid the same.
Special thanks to my wife Nova for her support and encouragement, her patience in listening to be obsess about the details of this whole endeavor, etc! Also, in the final month of running the training really bit into the family schedule.
So next post will have the results of what happens on Sunday! After that, this blog will switch gears and be more focused on general weight loss management stuff.
