Sunday, October 25, 2009

Two More to Go

Today's Run: Temperature: 61 degrees. Road: 4 miles; splits: 9:04; 9:00; 9:00; 8:44; 35:48; 8:57/mile pace.

Two more runs to go before the NY City Marathon. #44355 is starting to get nervous. Reality is setting in that it's now less than a week away. I ran my scheduled 4 miler today, and it's nice to feel as comfortable running as I did prior to the Hartford Marathon two weeks ago. I ran splits of 9:04, 9:00, 9:00, and an 8:44. Looking back over my runs since Hartford, I have had average split times of 9:30 (6 days after marathon), 8:56, 9:04, 8:57, and 8:57. My last two split times prior to the marathon were 8:56 and 8:57. Get the idea? Over the course of a short four or five mile run I'm very consistent. If only I could run that well over 26.2 miles...I'd be a sub four hour marathon runner. It's times like this that I need to remind myself that if I run "stupid", I will crash and burn in NY. I will not run "stupid," and will follow the run-walk-run training plan as good as, if not better than I did in Hartford two weeks ago. I have a realistic goal of a 4:30 nettime for NY. It's not my best marathon time (4:22:19), but that's ok. My goals for NY are simple: Finish, have fun, and enjoy the experience of my last marathon. If I can run-walk-run at a 10 minute per mile pace and finish with a 4:22:11, I'll have a new PR. If not, so be it.

8 comments:

Kelly said...

Wow 6 days away! I really hope you do PR :)

Rookie on the Run said...

I hope you make your PR... but even if you don't, you know what an amazing accomplishment it is to finish the NYC Marathon.

I am sure you will do GREAT!

Anais said...

#44355 is going to do GREAT!!! I know it and all of your readers know it, and hopefully you know it as well :)

Lisa said...

Rick I know you will do well because you are in the right frame of mind. So excited for you. Can't wait to read you race report.

Tara said...

I KNOW you will make your PR!! I know it! Come on Rick say it with me now. The power of positive thinking! I can't believe NY is only a week away. Wow.

Happy Feet 26.2 said...

So excited for you (and a little jealous - NYC marathon, awesome). I hope you have a great race and enjoy every minute of it. My running partner ran it last year. She jumped in with a pace group and stuck with them like glue into the last few miles. She said it really helped because as the pace group ran they would announce "pace group coming" and for some reason the runners just opened up and let the group through. Not sure if it's good for you or not, but something to consider.

Good Luck! Can't wait to hear about it.

Lindsay said...

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

the nerves!!!!!!

they are setting in over here too. big time.

hope you can stay relaxed for these last few days! i am definitely making a point to enjoy the race too, no matter how my body ends up feeling pace-wise. :)

Irish Cream said...

Oh man, I am SO excited for you! I can't believe NYCM is so soon!! You are going to rock it out there, #44355! You have exactly the right attitude about too. I predict a very successful run. Can't wait to read all about it! ;)