Fresh off of beating my personal goal at the South Shore Half-Marathon a few weeks ago, I decided to do something (which in my mind I still consider) stupid: I signed up for the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon in October.
Angie is teasing me about the fact that even training for the half-marathon, I kept claiming I would never run a full marathon. I guess this is one of those "Bucket List" things for me: I want to do one and "thank you very much, good night!" cross it off the list and never think of it again. Admittedly, I want the bragging rights more than I want to run the race.
So far, my longest run has been 16 miles, so between now and October, I've got to figure out a way to crank out those extra ten miles without completely blowing myself out. Complicating this a bit is the fact one of my ankles is a bit pissed at me for all the running lately. I actually had an x-ray done this week to rule out a fracture, but that was negative. I believe the doctor, but it sure doesn't feel negative.
Nonetheless, I now have another goal to beat. I have no idea if I will be able to pull off what I'm going to try in terms of completing the marathon in a certain time. One of my running buddies tells me the goal is to merely complete the first long race; of course, I have a goal set for myself. It's based on the goals I had for the half-marathon (finish in under two hours and finish in the top half): There are 3050 spots available in the marathon and I hope I can finish in the top half and hope I can do it in under four hours. This means I've got to average 9:09 minute miles over the 26.2 miles of the course.
I have no idea if these goals are even remotely obtainable, but I plan to find out. It is entirely possible I'm going to crash and burn on this, have a horrible time, finish last or get the dreaded DNF (did not finish). At the same time, for me, it's good to have some sort of seemingly impossible goal to try and beat.
My body is still flipping me off in terms of this idea (my ankle, is leading the charge on this score), but I have six months to train for this. I have [wisely/stupidly/?] signed up for three additional half-marathons and a seven mile run prior to the Lakefront Marathon. I'm running about three times a week now and will start the "official" training program 16 weeks prior to the marathon in June.
Hopefully I'll still have legs to walk on when this is done.
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Labels: lakefront marathon, running
