Originally written on October 29, 2018
This may be one of the first Blog Ahead posts that goes live, but I wanted this to be one of the last Blog Ahead posts I write so I'm as close to race day as possible. As of writing this post, I am 11 days away from toeing the line at the Richmond Marathon - my 8th marathon in my 8th state - and as this post goes live, I am within 48 hours! Before every marathon, I like to take a moment to think about my goals for the race. I thought it might be fun to include my goals as a Race Week post for my Blog Ahead challenge so you all will kind of know where my head is at going into this race (and I'll almost definitely be reading this again myself as it goes live as a quick refresher!).
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I often get asked if I have time goals when I go into races, and if I'm really honest with myself, I never do. While I'd love to be able to run sub-5 one day, I've never *seriously* tried and trained correctly to make that an obtainable goal. Usually when I train, I just do the best I can and then hope for the best on race day. I'm not a professional runner by any means and I don't think I've ever seen a training plan right down to the letter. Basically, I just make things us as I go along. :P
This training cycle was tough. I originally was training for the Newport Marathon in Rhode Island, but then I started a new job and had this huge lifestyle and schedule change that I really didn't know how to navigate. My training for Newport quickly was put on the back burner, and while I was still hoping to run that race, a failed long run really showed how unprepared I was. I decided to defer Newport to 2019 and shoot for a race later in the fall. That's how Richmond came into my life! Since then, I've had a couple of really successful long runs and while training still has been far from perfect, I'm feeling much better about this race than I did about attempting Newport.
Richmond is dubbed "America's Friendliest Marathon" which is so exciting. I've heard nothing but fantastic things about the crowd, the volunteers, and the entire event, so it's the perfect combination to have a great time while running this race. What's more, the course is SUPER FLAT, and it's been a really long time since I've run a flat course. I train in an extremely hilly area, so I'm hoping that really plays to my advantage on how my legs feel come race day.
In terms of concrete goals for this race, I don't have many, but I wanted to list the few that I do have here, so I can keep them in the back of my mind as the miles tick past.
1. FINISH!
This is always my #1 goal for any marathon. Running 26.2 is a feat in itself. No matter how slow my time is, I'm going to feel accomplished getting across the finish line.
2. HAVE FUN!
My friend Erin is actually coming down from Pittsburgh and bringing her friend Estee along to be my support crew and cheer me on which I am so excited about! Having friendly faces in the crowd always make it so much more fun and keeps me more motivated to keep putting one foot in front of the other
3. RUN/WALK
I tried out the run/walk method for a couple of my long runs and I've been really liking it. It definitely saves your legs over a longer period of time, so I think I'm going to continue to try this out at Richmond and see how it feels.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a fun-filled race and that I'll cross the finish line with a smile on my face. I'm really looking forward to race weekend, despite how training has gone over the last few months, and I'll be sharing with you all how the race goes when I return from Virginia. WISH ME LUCK! :)
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