Last (Only?) Long Run Before Boston

Today was pretty much my last opportunity to do a long run before the Boston Marathon.  Last night, I was actually looking forward to the run for a couple of reasons.  Reason #1: I was going to be running farther than any training run I've done this year.  (Kind of sad actually.)  Reason #2: I was going to be doing the entire run by myself, which I rarely do these days.  

The run went rather well, except for the pit stop I had to make after 4 miles.  Last night's sushi wasn't sitting well in my stomach.  I basically did about 6 miles in the the Washington Heights/Inwood Hill Park area.  Then I went from the Hudson River bike path down to 59th Street.  From there, I went into Central Park and did the 5-mile loop.  

I had originally planned on running all the way to Battery Park and up the east side of Manhattan if I felt good.  But have I mentioned that I hate running in straight lines?  It always makes the run seem longer than it really is.  

I'm still not dead set on a goal for Boston.  When I first knew I was going to run Boston, I had planned on trying to run a 3:05.  But then I got injured and wasn't able to train properly.  As of today, I would say my goals look something like this:

Safe goal:  3:30

Modest goal: 3:25 (would qualify me for next year's Boston, not that I want to run another marathon.)

Reach goal: 3:15.  (Weather would have to be perfect.  I would have to feel great.)

I'm going to save my PR attempt for Chicago in October.  Hopefully, I'll be done with "racing" marathons after Chicago.  

Boston Panic???

I've never been one to panic, but maybe now is the time to start.  Let's recap the last 5 months.  In November I decided to run the Knickerbocker 60K.  I finished but proceeded to injure my knee.  I spent 2 weeks trying to run on it, 4 weeks staying of it, and another 2 weeks gingerly getting back into running.  By mid-January, I thought I had gotten past the injury.  It never felt 100%, but I was able to increase my mileage through February and March.

Team RunNYC fluid station.  Pic by Teresa DeVera

I ran the NYC Half Marathon a couple of weekends ago.  The race went surprisingly well.  I was hoping for a sub-1:28 and ended up running 1:25:08.  The problem was that I seemed to have aggravated my knee injury.  It was bothering me all last week.  That was frustrating because I was planning on doing one of my few long runs this past weekend.  (The longest runs I've done since that 60K were a couple of 15 milers a few weeks ago.)

So now I've come to a crossroads.  Should I still try to do a long (18 to 20 miles) run before Boston, which is only 3 weeks away?  I've already decided that there is no way I try to PR Boston.  Yet, I was still holding out hope that I could re-qualify for next year's Boston by running sub-3:15.  But, now, even that seems a bit optimistic.  

I've decided to try a little voo doo for my knee.  

Year of the Marathon

I signed up for the Chicago Marathon!  I somehow managed to do so rather painlessly.  Instead of waiting until 1:00 p.m. for registration to open last Tuesday afternoon, I went online 5 minutes early.  I was able to avoid the gridlock that seemed to affect everyone else who tried to register.

Only once in my running life have I ever run more than one marathon in a year, and that was the year I ran the Long Island Marathon and the NYC Marathon in the same year.  Waaaaaayyyyy back in 1995!  This year, I'm signed up for 3 marathons, Boston, Chicago, and NYC.  Why the sudden fondness for marathons?  Well, I've been signed up for Boston ever since I deferred running last year's Boston.  I signed up for NYC because last year's NYC was cancelled, and I figured I would run this year's for fun.  I signed up for Chicago because I will try to PR there.  I had planned on trying to PR at Boston, but I know I won't be in the best shape for that race.

I hope I won't regret running all these marathons.  My knee is still bothering me from the 60K back in November.  Some people tried to convince me to sign up for the Philly Marathon so that I would qualify to be a Marathon Maniac.  Three words for them.  Not gonna happen.

I had fun pacing Tiffany for the second half of her NYCRUNS Half Marathon.  I also ran about 5 miles with Rey who was running the marathon.  I did 15 miles total.  The soreness in my legs makes me more than a little concerned about my Boston training.  Fifteen miles is really not much, but it's the farthest I've run in 3 months.  I am NOT ready to do 26!

Pre-race fuel