Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Boston Dreams and Today's Run



What is it about Boston?  Every year on Marathon Monday, I am always filled with enormous amounts of hope and pride for myself and in my fellow runners.  The Boston Marathon is the culmination of thousands of runner’s dedication.  

I think we runners understand the hard work to get to Boston.  The dedication required to your training plan.  The perseverance required to push through the hard workouts and to get up and run when the couch is calling your name.
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I soak in all the articles prior to race, training plans to help you BQ, race nutrition to improve your marathon time, and tons of race recaps afterwards.  The Boston Marathon is a great spectator sport and vast media coverage allows those of us unable to be there to feel like we are part of the action.
I love reading the Boston runner’s experiences.  I get goose bumps just thinking about how it would feel to be running this historic race.  To step over the starting line and to begin the hard won journey.

There are so many inspiring stories that go along with Boston.  Like the Boston bombing victim with a prosthetic leg that crossed the finish line??  The charity runners running for important causes.  The wheelchair racers that won’t take no for an answer.


Boston is a goal for a lot of us.  What I love about running is the support that we give one another.  We’re all in this together.  We’ve all had to struggle through our first mile.  I think for a lot of us Boston signifies not just our sport, but our time, our commitment, and our heart.

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Boston is my ultimate goal.  I want the privilege of running those famed streets along with thousands of other runners.  I want to devote time to getting faster and working on a stronger mentality.  I want to feel the spirit of the crowd and spectators around me.  One day I will too be a Boston Marathoner.



Today’s training:

8 miles
2 miles easy, 2 x 2 miles @ HM pace with 1 minute recovery, 2 miles easy
 59:27
7:26/mile average

I originally planned this run with the intention to taking the easy miles really easy, running the 2 x 2 miles at 7:30 pace and then two more super easy miles.  Once I got outside and my legs started moving, however, I knew it was going to be a different story.  My first two easy miles were 8 minute miles.  I headed home and picked up Peyton to do the middle miles.  She has been having loads of energy lately so I knew she'd help me pick up the speed.  2 x 2 miles splits: 6:54, 6:52, 6:55, 6:58.  It's been a few months since I've done anything near sub 7 minutes miles.  Running with Peyton is always a good idea.  The last two cool down miles were 7:50 per mile.



And now she's resting.  Under the coffee table.




Who has already run Boston?  Who is also hoping to BQ one day?

How was your run today?

2 comments:

  1. Best of luck to you in your quest to BQ. I have no doubt if you want it badly enough and are willing to work for it, you can make it happen. It took me over five years from the time the dream was born to the time I finally made it to Boston, but the wait only made it better. The weather this year was awful, but it was still one of the top moments of my life. Good luck again and I'll be looking forward to following the journey.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your encouragement! I'm always motivated when other people acknowledge how much hard work qualifying for Boston is. I can't wait to get there!

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