Marathon #11

With marathon #11 coming up this weekend (VEGAS!) , I’ve been thinking of goals now that breaking 3:15 is out of the way. While doing my thinking, I’ve made a couple of realizations. And then had a huge headache.

I underestimate myself a lot of times and make my goals way too easy. Or don’t even set goals for many races.

So I am gonna get real about goals. No more pansy, wimpy 3 tiered goals (A is the real goal, B is the second place, and C being the loser consolation goal). I am going to make BOLD, DEFIANT, GUTSY goals. And I’m going to make them loud and public.


If I don’t make my goal, I fail. And you’re gonna see it. But that’s ok; that’s part of life. You can learn as much from your failures as your successes.

My goal for Rock N Roll Las Vegas is to finish sub-3:13 and be tougher mentally through the second half of the race. 3:12:59 will do fine (that would be a new PR and should land me top-25 among women).

So my next BIG marathon goal is to run a marathon sub 3:10. Again, 3:09:59 will do fine. I’m crapping my pants as I type this. It’s gonna be tough to run 26.2 sub- 7:15 min miles. I’m not gonna do it this Sunday, but I will do it. Eventually.

Not that I've got my mind on a sub 3:13 goal this weekend, I am conflicted how to approach it strategically. I like running with the pace group because they tend to run even splits and get you to the finish line right on schedule. For San Antonio, I ran with the 3:15 pace group and actually hated them - until I crossed the finish line and then absolutely LOVED them since they got me across the finish line in 3:13. The pace for a 3:15 marathon is 7:27, and the 3:15 pace group for San Antonio was consistently running at a faster pace than that...which ended up working out well for me because I was able to hang on, but I was terrified the whole time that we were starting out too fast and I would eventually crash and burn.

Which brings me to my next dilemma for the Vegas race. Which pace group do I run with? There is a 3:10 and a 3:15 pace group. Do I run with the 3:15 pace group for the first 2o miles and then try to pick it up the last 6 in order to make a 3:12 marathon? Or, do I attempt to run with the 3:10 pace group for as long as I can and allow myself that two minute cushion when I start to get tired (and just hope I don't crash and burn).

I've still yet to make up my mind as to how I will approach this race. I could always run with neither pace group and try to hit the necessary mile splits on my own, but that is always a difficult thing to do.

Nonetheless, my trip will be great because Brett Michaels is playing the post-race concert Sunday night and I love me some Brett Michaels!!