Planes, Trains, and Running Shoes: Marine Corps Marathon Race Goals

The Marine Corps Marathon is 3 days away! WOOHOO!

I. Am. So. PUMPED.

I feel so ready for this race and I'm so excited to take DC by storm because I know that this weekend, I'm going to have the best time of my life...even though that's the slogan for this year's Philly Marathon.

Here's the thing. I love DC. I absolutely adore our Nation's Capitol. It's my favorite city in America and nothing would make me happier at this point in time than being able to call that city home. But until I can do that, I'll be toeing the line at the Marine Corps Marathon this weekend...and the Hot Chocolate 15k in December...and the Cherry Blossom 10-mile in April.

On my first trip to DC in 2008!

When I started training for this race, I was in India. I never wrote about how bad my first training run was but those 4 miles were the worst 4 miles of my life. I honestly thought I was going to die...and I seriously contemplated seeking medical attention after sweating my way through 105 degrees with 98% humidity in a long sleeved t-shirt.

I've come a long way since then. From good runs to great runs to bad runs to horrible runs. I poured my heart into this training cycle. I cross-trained. I strength trained...sometimes. I ran 5 days a week instead of 4. I hit all of my target runs. I didn't miss a workout until I was well into my 3rd month of training. I listened to my body. I paid attention to injuries. I rested when I felt like my body needed rest.

I could not be more ready for this marathon.

When I ran the Philadelphia Marathon, my goal was, first and foremost, to finish and second, to finish in as close to 4 hours as possible. I crossed the line at 4:08 elated.

Now, as I'm gearing up to run Marathon #2, I've got some more specific goals in mind.

A Goal: 3:50
I've been weary of posting that number and talking about my A goal on this blog this entire training cycle but I'm finally going to put it out there. 3:50 is my A goal. I'd love to hit it. I know it's possible and I know I can do it, it's just a matter of execution. Running a 3:50 marathon requires that I maintain a 3:46 pace. I've been really successful at running my MGP runs at this and I've done all of my tempo runs at 8:30 or faster so I know this is a possibility.

B Goal: Sub-4
Last year, when I crossed the starting line of the Philadelphia Marathon, the Nike+ app on my iPod wouldn't start. So I ran a very conservative first half. When I saw that I was at around a 2:08 for the first half, I knew I could push it a lot harder since my half marathon PR at the time had been just under 2:01 so I pushed it and came in the second half in 2 hours flat. Now, my half marathon PR is a solid 3 minutes under 2 hours so I know a sub-4 marathon is within reach. Now, the closer I can get to 3:50, the happier I'll be.

No matter what happens on Sunday morning, I can say that I will come away from this weekend feeling so utterly blessed. I already feel that way.

I have an amazing mom who has never, ever stopped supporting me in anything I've ever done. From driving me 2 hours there and back to rehearsals for Grease when I was in high school because she knew it was the only thing that was holding me together through a really rough time to getting up at 3:00 in the morning to drive to Boston and surprise me at my first half-marathon to printing out the full 15 page Powerpoint Spectators' Guide to the Marine Marathon so that she doesn't miss a moment of Sunday's race.

I have a wonderful boyfriend who, after dating for almost 3 years, still manages to make my heart skip a beat every single time I see him and who somehow managed to finagle a way to make it down to the race this weekend because he genuinely wants to be there, who is so unbelievably supportive of the fact that sometimes, I just have to run.

I have the best group of friends I could ever ask for. My friends in DC are seriously my favorite people in the world. When they're around, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I'm going to have a fantastic time. I can't wait to see the boys tonight and everyone else tomorrow at their Zombie Halloween Party. And I can't wait to see them ~~hung over~~ standing on the side lines as I run my way through their city.

I have an unbelievable support system in this blog. It's because of all of your comments, tweets, emails, froyo dates, etc. through this entire training cycle that I'm going for an 18 minute PR. I started tracking my training on this blog more as a way of holding myself accountable than anything. I never thought I would get so much advice, feed back and inspiration from those of you who have commented on all of my Training Tuesday posts over the last 4 months.

I can't wait to see these fine ladies at Mile 23!

Tonight, I'm flying to Washington, DC to have an amazing weekend with friends, family, bloggers, 30,000 other runners and of course, the United States Marine Corps. All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go and I couldn't be more excited.