Well Here We Go....

Three mental miles over lunch today, and that's it until Sunday's Harrisburg Marathon.

I really wish the race were yesterday... yesterday I was pretty Zen and felt like I could've done something special. Now - I'm a bit more normal for me, which isn't so Zen-like.

But the hay's in the barn, etc. etc. Nothing I can do about it now. And no matter what, it's not like I'll be running with a rabid fox on my arm like some runners do. (Thanks, Maggie)

Earlier this week, I laid out the nutritional plan. Here's my detailed pace plan:

7:15 miles until the wheels fall off. Period.

Some things I'm not good at. Some things I am. I promise you I won't come back and say I got excited and burst out of the gates at 6:55. Ain't gonna happen. I'll be close to 7:15 for the first mile and the one after that and the one after that.

Around 15, that won't be as much fun, and I'll work hard to keep 15-20 between 7:15 and 7:25.

And after that, well there's nothing like the last six miles of the marathon to render training plans, blogs, books and even paid coaches powerless. It will be a battle to the end.

A 7:15 pace is a 3:10 marathon.
A 7:26 pace is a 3:15 marathon, which is what I need to get to Boston, being 37 years old and all.

They say you should have A, B and C goals. I'm setting the A goal @ 3:10, because I do believe it can happen. It will take the perfect set of circumstances, but it can happen.

B goal is anything under 3:15:59.

C goal is simply to finish. I do have respect for the marathon like you're supposed to respect wild animals and if my guts blow up on me, or if my shins fall apart, or if, if, if... it doesn't matter. There is valor in finishing and I would get some satisfaction (some) out of just finishing.

And after this? I actually have a plan in place for how to spend the winter and I'm excited about it. But I need to do this thing on Sunday before I can tell you about it.

In the meantime, I just found out today that the first ever marathon will be held in Lancaster County in the Spring! Obviously, Boston could prevent that from happening. However, it's just another sign that if I don't pull a 3:15 this weekend, there's always another challenge waiting.

Comments

  1. Anne Findlay4:20 PM

    Good luck! Run strong! I can't wait to hear all about it.
    Cheers,
    Anne

    ReplyDelete
  2. rdn5cents11:02 AM

    Good Luck Marcus!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The gun in my basement.

Image
In my basement, I have a safe. And in that safe, under expired passports and birth certificates, there's a gun. It's unloaded. Hasn't been loaded in probably twenty years, and yet every time I take it out, I check to make sure. If you're a gun nerd, it's a 9 shot .22 revolver. On this website , it says that "it is true that many people have been killed by a .22 LR in the course of history," but the writer concludes that this weapon is a bad choice for self defense. I didn't buy it for self defense. I didn't even buy it. It was my father's and after he died, my mother gave it me, along with an Elgin watch he'd worn for years. The watch was weathered and worn and I took it to be restored. The jeweler refused, saying it was worthless. Two decades later, the watch is still in my jewelry box. There's no need for it to be locked up. I have no idea if this gun is in my possession legally. No idea if my father had a permit for it, or w...
Read more

Happy D-Blog Day, Uh, I Guess...

So according to diabetics blog-wide, today is D-Blog Day, the day when those of us affected by diabetes are supposed to blog about it. Or draw awareness to diabetes... Or something like that. I'm really a bad poster child for the disease. Not because I'm not in great control (actually, I am), but because I've just never been bothered by the disease so much. Red sums it up well in Shawshank Redemption: "Get busy living, or get busy dying." So if living means three blood sugar tests a day, so be it. If living means being hooked up to an insulin pump, go to it. That being said, I feel for anyone with diabetic kids... I'm a tough guy about the disease. I wouldn't be if my kids had it. If either of my kids had diabetes, I'd be screaming about the politicians who are spending money on wars instead of research, and I'd be yelling about the schools that make it difficult to be a diabetic in the classroom. But my kids don't have diabetes, so instead I ...
Read more

The Bright Side

“ And if you ever get scared, look on the bright side: You’ve got a new life.” – Amos Lee Last month, I was diagnosed with Lyme disease. Since then, I’ve tried to write this essay a few times. The first attempt followed a narrative arc rife with suspense, with a few years of frustrating doctors’ visits, mysterious symptoms that came and went and the all-around sentiment that the batteries that powered my body were no longer able to sustain a charge or be fully refueled at the end of the day. But if you Google Lyme disease, you realize there’s nothing unique about that story. In fact, the reality that my own diagnosis came only two years after all of this started makes this a much shorter story than it is for many. The theme of the second version was more pitiful, tinged with regret about what this had taken from me over the past two years and what it might take in the future. But honestly, that one didn’t get far at all. If there’s a good time for something like ...
Read more