Sunday, January 24, 2010

New Year, More Big Races - finding the crazy again

The blog got neglected so - the end of the year qualified me for NYC marathon and as a whole, 2009 was one great year for running in the Newton house- PRs, Goons galore!

The holidays brought plenty of drinks and cookies which brought plenty of extra weight to drag. As the beginning of Boston training approached, I was less than enthused. Really? Am I really doing this all again? Winter training, the dark, the treadmill - oh my god - the DREADMILL - hamster on the wheel - it's torture. However, the first few long runs have been awesome. I mean really awesome.

My original goal for Boston was low 3:30s - nothing to be ashamed of but not really pushing myself. Well, fast forward to the 17 mile long run where my friend Jen had to do tempo work @ 7:52 for 6 miles. The fattie, glutton feelings I've been having had me in no shape or mindset to be able to do this. However, the competitive brain switched on and said - alright - I'll give it a shot. I was cruising yesterday - cruising and feeling GOOD. Am I short selling myself? Can I really go much faster? I was kind of thinking that I couldn't push through this imaginary barrier in my head to break into the 3:20s for Boston but after yesterday - that's my new goal. Cleared with FB - the 'easy' Boston training has turned aggressive. I dug up the crazy and it's running on high :)