I set aside six full months to devote to training for this marathon. I have eschewed countless races that I would have done because I am dedicated to racing this 26.2. I am just eight weeks away and what I’ve learned thus far is that marathon training is a roller coaster ride. There have been so many ups and so many downs. First I was hurt and had to adjust my goal. Then I learned to manage my injury and started to run further than I ever have. I was under all the prescribed times on every workout and began toying with adjusting my goal time of 3:30. I finished my first 20-miler on top of the world, well under my target time and with enough left to finish another 6.2 if I were so inclined. Immediately after, I caught a cold I couldn’t shake and couldn’t run for more than two weeks. Tuesday was my first day back and my track workout went well. Today (Thursday) was a tempo run (comfortably fast) and I couldn’t finish the whole workout. It’s amazing how much is lost in 16 days. I’m supposed to do another 20 miler this weekend and, based on today, I don’t see that happening. This, too, shall pass and I will get going again but it sure has been an interesting journey thus far.
My team for the Ragnar Relay is getting rolling. I mentioned this run in an earlier blog, but this is a race from Clearwater to Daytona Beach. There are 12 of us on the team, six men and six women. We are going to run 191 miles in less than 24 hours. Here’s how it works, but first we’ll go through the vocab:
1) Segment – the total amount of mileage one does over the entire race
2) Leg – Everyone runs three different legs which equal their segment
So, there are twelve segments and each one averages about 16 miles, the longest being 21.2 and the shortest being about 11 miles. Once you choose the segment, the legs are set in that they are evenly spaced. So, you couldn’t run all 16 at once. If you run the first leg, you then run the 13th and the 25th – hours apart. Got it? I don’t know for sure which leg I am running, but I would LOVE to run the last one and bring it all home to my old stomping grounds in Daytona. Most likely, I’ll run the second or third leg. We’ll see. We’ll be in different vans, six in each one, runners one through six in the first and the rest in the other. I don’t expect I’ll sleep at all or eat a whole lot. I hope to shower once and will be forced to bond in special ways with some teammates who we don’t really know all that well. Will be fun to write about.
Anyway, our team expects to win. What I mean is, I’ve looked at the times for other races and, for the co-ed division; we really should be positioned well, averaging about a 6:45 minute mile pace throughout. The race is November 14 & 15. I’ll keep you updated.
By the way, I am still raising money for the Heart Association! I know everyone has so much jack laying around these days, so there’s nothing better that you could do with that money than donating it to charity! Help me out – I’m actually pretty close to my goal. Thank you – I hope you all are well.
