Running Goals!
Happy Monday friends! I hope you are feeling fresh and ready for the week! I had an eventful weekend but I slept really well and I have the day off to get myself together so I’m prepping for the week! Today, I wanted to pop in and share a bit of my running goals for the rest of the year. I’ve been a bit quiet about these and I’m finally getting a plan together so I’m ready to share!
Like most of the running world, I applied to the New York City Marathon lottery. I’ve only run a couple of marathons and I’m not a gazelle so my times weren’t enough to qualify. While the charity entries are available and great for others, I just don’t think I can fund raise and save for a trip to any of the World Major Marathons. The lottery system would have been the only way for me to go at this present moment. I got lucky with Chicago on my first time so why not try?
Well, it didn’t happen for me. I wouldn’t have been upset about it if I wasn’t extremely sick last week and it felt like all the bad things were happening at once. This mole hill definitely turned into a mountain real quick. After a day of annoyance, I decided to turn my thoughts onto Plan B. I’m super Type A so there was ALWAYS a Plan B. Since I didn’t make it into the marathon with the lottery, how crazy would it be to make it in with a qualifying time?
If you’re unaware, New York City Marathon takes qualifying times for both the half marathon and the marathon. It is a VERY fast race and my half time is quite a bit slower than that for my age range. However, I’ve never really trained and worked specifically for the half marathon. I haven’t gone to a half marathon fully trained and intent on racing it. It was usually a tune up run or more of an endurance event. So, why not do it?!
I am a very realistic person and I know that I’m not going to drop 30+ minutes in a few months. I get that. However, I want to see how fast I can get my half marathon to. I want to focus on speed and push to find the limit and then blow past that. Summer months will be creeping up soon here in Texas but I want to adapt to the heat and continue speed training through the fall. I’m working with my coach again and I’m very excited about that. During my time between races, I’ve seen sprints in the 6s and 7s so maybe I can get strong enough to hold that for longer distances. We’ll see!
Yes, I was bummed not to have made it into the NYC Marathon. However, I’m very excited to see what my legs can do. Working with my coach to train for Chicago was FANTASTIC and I know that my half marathon performance will improve. I have a race in April and I’m eyeing another race in the fall. I’m ready to see what this year will bring for me!
Did you apply and make it into the NYC marathon?
