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Last year I never thought I'd run a full marathon again. (More on my blog post I'm Over the Marathon.)This year I'm about to run three! My first full of the year was the OC Marathon May 1st (race recap here), my second is the SF Marathon July 31st (this weekend!), and my third will be the Marine Corps Marathon October 31st.
Each time I train for a marathon I create a 8-20 week training schedule and then commit to it. In this training round I committed to it, but I missed a lot of my training runs because of work travel, personal travel, triathlon training, triathlon racing, and a short lived injury. Unfortunately the injury came during my peak training weeks and for a while I thought about dropping back to the half. D'oh! (More on that decision here.)
The San Francisco Marathon course is tough. Why do you think its called "Worth the Hurt"? The hills are hard but the course is beautiful. I ran the full marathon back in 2006, ran the first half last year in 2010, and now I'm back to run the full again.
SF Marathon 2006 with my Dad
With any race I set a goal, but recently I've set multiple goals to make the race more enjoyable. My goals for the OC Marathon were:
- Complete the race without getting injured
- Complete the race without a total emotional meltdown like last time
- Complete the race with a smile
- Complete the race feeling like I've pushed myself as much as I could
- And as always... complete the race under 4 hours!
Now that I'm not as emotionally scarred about potentially running a bad marathon, and because I know I haven't trained half as hard as I should have, my goals for the San Francisco Marathon are quite different. My goals? Drumroll please....
- Complete the race without getting injured
- Complete the race with a smile
- Complete the race in under 4:24:17 (My 2006 time)
- Complete the race period
This is the first marathon where I really have no time pressure on myself. Whew! I know I haven't trained hard enough, I know I have my "A race" later in the year (Marine Corps), and I know the weekend will be fun regardless. And you know what? I LOVE marathons. Check out the 26 reasons I love marathons here, and if you want to see what gear I'll be wearing/using for the race click here.
Want to track my progress on Sunday? Well if you're cool and have an iPhone, iPad, or Droid phone you can download an app here or here. If you're not as cool (I'm not either, I have a Blackberry) you can track me online here. Bib number 7083 baby!
3 comments:
Hey girly! GREAT post! Those are amazing goals. So uhm, I'm not the least bit hesitant to say...I THINK YOU ARE GOING TO BLOW 4:24 OUT OF THE WATER!!!! :) :)
Love the picture of you and your dad! That is so amazing he was able to be there! && your tutu is wayyyy too cute!
Best of luck!!! and HAVE FUN! :D
Good luck!!! Can't wait to hear about it!
Good luck!! I'm trying not to be too bummed out because I ran San Francisco last year and vowed to return this year but it just didn't work out for various reasons. I loved the race and I felt like a champ when I crossed the finish line... and then felt like collapsing when I stopped running but that's neither here nor there...
Anyway, enjoy the race and I hope you reach your goals. It's cool that you have no time pressure. Enjoy the hills and hopefully you survive Golden Gate Park! That was the toughest part for me.
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