26643
It’s been a while since I have written anything, so for all of you on the edge of your seats, here is the latest!
Boston Athletic Association issued our race bib numbers this week. My number is 26643, which means I start in the 26th corral. That’s the back of the pack! The corrals are in order of qualifying time, fastest to slowest, but since the “charity” runners didn’t qualify they place us all at the back. Not a problem for me as it will force me to be conservative in the early part of the race until the crowd of runners thins out a bit. Having a number assigned though makes it feel even more real.
Training has been going well, although I am starting to feel the effects of the last 12 weeks. A few creaking joints here and there, and some muscle soreness from time to time, are all part of the game I think. Fortunately things are getting close to winding down. My long run this weekend is 18 miles, likely to be followed next week with 20. Then the mileage will start to go down over the last 3 weeks. I look forward to that! The speed work lately has been difficult, with three workouts of the dreaded mile repeats. Not a fun workout at all. But I can definitely feel my fitness improving. Last week I did a 15 mile run easy and relaxed, not worried about time at all. At 12 miles I was at 10:10 pace, and felt great so I did the last 3 miles at about 9:00 pace, much faster than I plan to run the marathon. By most runners standards, that’s a slow pace, but for me, it’s my half marathon PR pace. It’s encouraging to see the effect of the training.
So, as the weather improves, and the layers of clothes decrease, the reality of this event has set in. I have enjoyed the training, but will be very happy to get to the starting line…and then the finish line. Then I can rest, and start to focus on my half ironman, Racine 70.3. Much easier training.
If you are interested, here is a cool video about Boston 2009 produced by Adidas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlVK1lZwEcM
