I haven't mentioned my marathon endeavors since the beginning of August, but I've still been diligently training. I have hit some snags along the way. First I ran an 18.6 mile run on August 31, 2008 and it went really well, except at the time I thought it was a 20 miler. Sigh. I ran the distance in 2 hours and 46 minutes, which would be 8:18 per mile if it were 20 miles, but it's actually 8:55 per mile for 18.6 miles. Now you might be thinking who cares, but the qualifying time for Boston requires me to run 8:23 per mile, so 8:18 pace qualifies but 8:55 won't. Now you understand my disappointment.The second obstacle I hit was getting sick. Boo! I woke up with an awful sore throat the day I was scheduled to run a 22.5 miler. The smart action would have been to skip that run...OK stop cringing, I did skip it. But that means I missed my last long run before the race. And I needed to recover from my sickness. Because of my asthma, any cold seems to turn into a catastrophe. This was pretty much the same. I'm getting a little smarter though, as soon as I couldn't sleep through the night due to wheezing I went to the doctor. I had to take steroids for a week, but I recovered without getting pneumonia. Seriously, that's a good thing. I'm off the steroids and back to a steady state. After taking a week off, I was able to start running again.
Last week I was able to put in a solid 41 miles (all easy because I was still recovering from my sickness), but now tapering is a necessity. This week the goal will be to run around 20 miles. Yesterday I decided to take my legs for a test run, and ran a four mile tempo run at 7:13 pace. I was pleased. Even with my setbacks I was able to pick up the pace without any asthma issues. Yay! I'm back on track.
The BayState Marathon is October 19, 2008 and my goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Qualifying for Boston is probably a stretch given my training issues, but if I were to write that my goal has changed I'd be lying.
Please write some words of encouragement in the comments section! I'd love to hear from all of you. Even if you think I'm stark raving mad; I'd consider that encouragement!
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3 comments:
Your Mom and Dad think that it's possible for you to qualify for the big Boston marathon even with the little snags along the way. You've come a long way and snags just always seem to be a part of your journey getting there. I am now running four miles at a 10 minute mile pace. My goal was to run a 5K race, but that father of yours is intent on killing me with the goal of a 10K race w/ a good time. Take a breath, you'll be fine. Also keep your ears open at about the half way point and near the finish line for the words "come on Kate you can do it" and "go Katie go". I think your stronger than you think. Four people I work with had this cold turn into pneumonia and they don't have the same types of problems you have on a regular basis. I wonder if the flu got here early this year. Hope you continue to feel better.
Love,
Mom and Dad
Go Katie; you can do it!
Cathy
Hope everything goes well with your race tomorrow-- you'll have to let us know how you finished!
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