14.4.10

Ahead of Boston

5 days to go and I am still feeling relatively relaxed. But will surely start getting the butterflies every passing day and be a total nervous wreck once I find myself on a bus headed to Hopkington.

I had only last race on Sunday. It was a 4 miler that I used for speed work. I  was not going to seriously race it, but still got a PR in out of it. For this week all I have plan are shorter, easy runs. The only hard run will be on Thursday morning where Robert and I will sandwich 5 miles in marathon pace (~6.45s) in between an 8 miler. My last run will be on Saturday morning still in NYC. I head up to Boston on Sunday.

This will be first time that I run a marathon that I have raced before. I have no excuses, I know the course and respect how hard it is. I feel prepared, however. I have done plenty of speedwork, intervals and included hill work. Body seems to be doing fine as well, even my sore left calf is feeling better.

Projected time? Barring any injuries, I should be able run around or below 3 hours. If I feel good, could try a sub-2:55. But more importantly is to erase memories of my failed 2008 race where I started too fast and the Newton and Heartbreak Hills nearly destroyed me. I had to walk for 3 miles. This time around my main goal is to run the whole course.

2 comments:

Robert James Reese said...

It was really nice in Philly already knowing the course from the previous year. I think that will help you a lot.

I think sub-2:55 is a very real possibility for you. You've had a good training cycle and so there's no reason to think that you wouldn't be able to do as well as you did in November.

Helen said...

Antonio! Amazing time on a tough course today. Enjoy your well-deserved rest.