Whistlestop Marathon - It's Goal Time

The brisk breeze and bright sun of this past weekend's Twin Cities Marathon got me all jazzed-up for my upcoming marathon--Whistlestop Marathon in Ashland, Wisconsin. With less than four days to go, it's time to set some goals.

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I haven't raced a marathon since Boston in 2011, so I'm a little nervous. One thing that helps my nerves is crunching some training numbers. If you don't share my affinity for numbers,skip the next paragraph. Especially if the idea of statistics makes you queasy and brings back unpleasant memories of an Algebra class where the teacher's spittle splattered on the overhead as he explained the quadratic formula.
Being the number nerd that I am, I created a spreadsheet that broke down my training with average weekly miles, peak week miles, and an adjusted 10k time. I got the idea from a late Runner's World forum post author who wrote about using his 10k time to predict his marathon. I believe his ratio was about 4.5 or 4.6. My ratios of 10k times to 1/2 marathon times (marathon time/10k time) have been 4.83 (Twin Cities '09), 4.76 (Lake Wobegon '10), and 4.87 (Boston '11). Even though Boston was my PR at 2:59, a lingering cold combined with a tough course made it the "slowest" marathon I've run compared to my 10k time.

After plugging in the numbers and hearing that my original goal of breaking 2:50 was "sandbagging" it, I've decided to set a more ambitious "A" goal. I've yet to hit my "A" goal in a marathon, so if I don't get it this time, oh well.  Here's the goals:

"A" Goal:
Break 2:45

"B" Goal:
Break 2:50

"C" Goal:
Set a PR 

"D" Goal:
Finish the race upright and healthy

Last weekend Laura and I had a little marathon get together where we had the pleasure of hosting Michelle, her husband, and her sister. Later in the day I was a course marshal at the Twin Cities Marathon. Seeing other runners is a huge inspiration for me, and seeing Michelle, the athlete I coached at the Running Room Clinic this summer, and all the other runners working hard to meet their goals was a huge inspiration. Now, I'm going to try to bring some of that inspiration with me to Ashland, Wisconsin.

There you have it. Thanks to everyone who's donated to Quest Academy or Feed My Starving Children. Between family, friends, and school students and parents, we've raised over $500 at Quest. No one has let me know about Feed My Starving Children, but I'm sure there will be a few donations before week's end.

Happy running!