With 5 days to go before the marathon, I have started to develop my plan to execute on race day. It is going to have me digging deep, over-reaching what is suggested that I am capable of achieving based on the race/pace predictors and calculators. In spite of those computer generated, formulaic algorhythms that burp out my race finish times (and I might add, that I have found one that is nearly bang on based on my previous race finishes at a variety of distances), I still believe that I am capable of running a sub 3 hour marathon. Maybe I am being foolish, maybe I am realistic, maybe I have a tonne of heart and determination.
I have the fitness and the form, no injuries to speak of right now, and the course looks great. By the time I hit the Burrard Bridge, I will be feeling great, and the Seawall in Stanley park will be old hat, running that familiar route in reverse of the First Half-Half Marathon that I have done for so many years.
I think this is my year. Not only to shave--no--scalp last years time, but to obliterate it. The last few blog posts have been focussing so much on the time of the marathon, the preparation, and the obsession of the run for me. I am obsessed about this run. It kinda feels like Christmas as a kid for me. The same anticipation of that day, the same childlike excitement of Christmas morning, these are the feelings that I have before big events like this. The Test of Metal, Chucknut 50, Whistler Gran Fondo, the 2011 Vancouver Marathon, ANY cyclocross event, all of these events that get me charged up and feeling alive. This one is no different.
Here is the plan in miles:
Here is the prediction based on my previous results. This prediction is nealy bang on in all distances, which probably makes it more realistic. But to hell with it. I am going to find something within me to buck the prediction:
In my back pocket is a 6 hour, 11 minute 50k run that I did a month and a half ago. I know pain. I know suffering. I know where to go to get something extra to help myself along. This race course is less hilly than last year's. It is flatter, which means I have to be on the gas the whole time, just not full gas.
5 days away.
Sub 3.
That is the goal.
good luck Josh! Give'er
ReplyDeleteScott! Thanks for the encouraging words. I am really nervous for tomorrow morning. Today has been tough--I feel like I am waiting around for an exam to happen, like in my university days. I have prepped enough, just have to make it happen now. Tomorrow will be great, hard, fun, and I will end up sore and haggard. But this is what it is all about.
ReplyDeleteCheers man! All the best!
JW