Saturday, April 18, 2015

Boston goals

I used to write a post before each race laying out my goals for how I'd like to finish, etc.  Going into my training for Boston I had definite goals.  Big picture I wanted to make this my best marathon ever.  My previous marathons I had raced well, but as soon as I finished I knew I had more to give. That I could run faster, push harder, do better.  So what better race to leave it all out there than Boston.

My previous marathon personal best was 3:29:50.  I wanted to run faster than that.  With basic training I firmly believed that I could drop that down to 3:20 no problem.  With really good, consistent training I thought I'd be able to drop that even more & run closer to 3 hours.

I indicated in a previous post that my training started to fall off course about 6 weeks ago.  I knew my 3 hour goal was slipping away.  There was still plenty of room for a completely awesome run.  However once I hurt my foot I had to reassess everything.  I began to focus on just being able to finish.

I'll admit that I've had a few moments of questioning if I'd really be able to finish Boston.  While my break could've been much worse, it's not something I've ever dealt with before.  And regardless of the brave face I was putting on my foot really REALLY hurt.  A lot.  I'd like to believe that nothing could stop me from one of my top passions, but I do realize that I am also human & flawed & have some kind of breaking point.  And sometimes God has other plans that I just don't understand.

In the almost 3 weeks since I injured my foot I've been very very good at taking care of my foot. Maybe to a point of overkill, but I didn't care.  If I truly was not going to be able to finish the Boston marathon it was not going to happen without a fight. I did see an orthopedic doctor to get some good, solid professional input on my injury.  In a nutshell, if I can withstand running for 26 miles then good luck.  Hearing that was the nod I needed to press on.  I did add in some running.  Basically some very slow easy miles.  

Things have slowly, but surely been improving.  I'm not back to 100%, but I wasn't expecting to.  My goal remains the same & that is to finish.  Yeah, it's a bummer that my perfect, ideal marathon won't happen.  But I've been able to still fully experience this special achievement.  And in a few days I plan to be able to say, I finished & that's all that matters!!

1 comment:

  1. I have no doubt that you will finish!!! I hope that you are able to run without pain in your foot and truly enjoy the race!

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