Dream Marathon Schedule

It's been a long time since I've had dreams and aspirations to do a marathon, but now that it's struck, it's done so in a MAJOR WAY. I've said a few times, if I could run a marathon time that I was proud of, maybe I could just retire from the distance. I LOVE half marathons, and marathons are hard. But as I've been looking at races, and all of my running friends have been DOING all the fall marathons, I've had some serious race envy.

Here is my dream marathon schedule:

Twin Cities Marathon October 2018: This one is already decided. Barring any catostrophic injuries or burn out (knock on wood), this one is happening.

Grandma's Marathon June 2018: I I know I've said that I will NOT do a spring marathon, because it just doesn't work to train through our horrendous winter and then run a spring race. Even a cool spring day is way warmer than what I'm acclimated to run in, and just NO. BUT Grandma's is mid-June, so technically we could get in 6-8 weeks of warmer training prior to race day, for acclimation purposes. And if it's a nice cool day, it's a very fast course. If it's a hot day, holy shit, get ready for a mental battle.

Philly November 2019: Billions of years ago, running friends and I had talked about using Philadelphia as a course to attempt a BQ on. If all of the possible stars align and I improve immensely from race to race and stay healthy, this would be a perfect time of year and race to do it on! I loved it in 2011.

NYC November 2020: I've wanted to run for Project Purple since my mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I've wanted to run the NYC Marathon since before I started running marathons. I think it would be awesome to train for, and raise money for a cause that is so much larger than me running 26.2 miles.

Boston 2021: If we/I magically BQ in Philly, this would be our first year that we'd be able to run since the race is in November. If Toni makes it and I don't, than you'd best believe I'll be there cheering her on. And then maybe I'll retire from marathons.

BQ Dreams

A couple of weeks ago, a newer running friend sent me a text that said, "I think I'm crazy; I want to sign up for a marathon." She's currently training for her first half. To which I responded, "There's nothing crazy about that! I've been thinking a lot about my BIG goal of a BQ and according to my last marathon time, I have 90 minutes to take off my time!"

There's no goal too big. (<--new rule)

When I first started running marathons in 2010, I had visions of a BQ dancing in my head. So many of the bloggers I was following were chasing BQs and seemed to take about ten minutes off their marathon time each time they ran one, so I assumed that by my 3rd marathon, I'd be making my first BQ attempt as well. Lolz. My first marathon was a 4:12. My second was a 4:31, then 4:25. Seven marathons later, my first is still my fastest. By a lot, especially compared to my last few marathons, one barely sub 5 and a couple significantly over.

I purchased a Believe Training Journal last fall and I loved the goals section. I am such a goal-oriented person. When setting goals, I usually focus on ones that are attainable in the short term, my next race goal time, mileage goals, etc. But the journal gave me some inspiration to dream bigger. I know that if I can stay healthy, run consistent mileage, and build some stronger endurance on top of speedy legs, I can qualify for Boston. This is in no way a short-term goal, but it helps propel me forward on the days where I don't want to go out and do an easy 3-4 miler. What does it matter if I do 3-4 miles easy on any given day? Well it helps build that foundation of consistent running and mileage that adds up over time.

While running with Toni a couple of weeks ago, the topic of marathons came up. I told her that my next one would be in the fall of 2018. I hope to do some higher mileage training programs for the half marathon to whittle my speed down while building that endurance base for the next year or so before diving in to marathon training. She mentioned that maybe by then *she'd* be interested in running a marathon.

Bingo.

THIS HAS BEEN PRECISELY MY PLAN. MUHAHAHAHHA.

jk.

kinda.

I told her how I had hoped to smash my sub 4 goal for that race, and even offered to pay her race entry if she wanted to pace me to it, then realizing that she can't possibly pace *me* in her first marathon, because that would be craziness. (Um... now taking applications for a pacing buddy....) But then maybe the next go around, we can train for a BQ together. By that point, I'll have an extra 5 minutes toward qualifying, and for some reason a sub 3:40 doesn't sound horrific but a sub 3:35 sure does. Go figure.

Then I gave her the run down of what races we would be doing and basically planned out the next 3.5 years of running for her. Boston 2020 yo!

I was assuring her she could handle marathon training, because it's very similar to what we're doing but with a longer long run on the weekends. At one point she paused, and said, "You could be training me for a marathon right now and I wouldn't even know it!" with a nervous laughter. "How do you know I'm not?!" Surprise! Check your email for a race confirmation! jk.... for now.

yay goals and brf.