Myrtle Beach Marathon - I Can Hear the Clock Ticking

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Today is Monday. This Saturday, I will join close to 7,000 runners at the start of the Myrtle Beach Marathon. The marathon and half-marathon both begin at 6:30 am. I was not happy about freezing my butt off at the early start, but the forecast is for lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s, so now I'm quite happy. I've been training in snow and ice. A too hot day will destroy me. Let's get in there and get this thing run before the sun really comes up. 
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A Character Building Run

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"That's a character building run." Those are the words my Boston marathon training partner Michael used to sum up today's 76 degree, full-sun, 13-mile run. They're much more positive and uplifting than my summary statement upon finishing which was, roughly, "F*@%." 

Two weeks to Boston. Am I ready? I approach any race with three goals - baby goal, do-able goal, and "the stars and planets must align but there's still a shot" goal. My goals for Boston are thus:

  • PLANETS ALIGNED: Beat my time in Chicago, so anything under a 3:44:02
  • DO-ABLE GOAL: Come in under 4 hours
  • BABY GOAL: Just finish
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Pass the Duct Tape - 23 Days Until The Chicago Marathon

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It's 23 days until the Chicago Marathon and I've resorted to bribing my body to hold it together. "Stay healthy, sweetie, and Mommy will buy you some pretty new matching underwear for after your race!" type thinking. 

The body is starting to, if not exactly fall apart, show some wear and tear at the seams. The right leg pinching I had last year is back with a vengeance although, thankfully, it rarely hurts when I run. I rolled my right foot earlier this summer and there's some lingering tightness there. My left bicep (WTF??) feels like there are tendons tangled up in it and it's getting harder to raise the arm above my head. 

None of it is debilitating or prevents me from running.

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Marathon Training: A Run I Want to Remember

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Bear with me, it's yet another blog post on running. I try to keep them to somewhat of a minimum but, as my October 11th marathon draws ever closer, I find myself thinking more and more often about physical strength, mental reserves, and race day strategy.

My 20-mile long run yesterday is one I want to remember for a number of reasons.

First, it was my fastest 20-miler to date, clocking in at a breezy 2 hours and 57 minutes, which is an 8:58/mile pace, a full 7 seconds per mile faster than my scheduled pace for the day. That alone deserves a big wa-hoo. 

Second, I did the run on a day where it was already 72 degrees at 6:30 am AND the humidity level was off the charts. We were dripping before we ever took our first step. 

And third, I want to remember this run because I was pretty sure by mile 5 that I was going to have to quit

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