Game Time

Sunday: 6 miles @10:23 pace; Something was really off today. It was sunny and warmer than usual but nothing earth shattering. Got it done with some walking breaks.

Tuesday: 3 miles @ 9:49 pace; It was HOT. Like, after-the-run-was-done-and-I-was-walking-home-I-crossed-the-street-to-walk-in-the-shade hot. I had to stop to take a walk in a shady stretch half a mile from the end of my run. On a three mile run. So far this week has not been filled with energy-packed confidence boosting taper runs. And let me be honest here. It wasn't even that hot. I just checked and it is 77 degrees (not a cloud in the sky, though). Isn't that a pleasant summer day in most parts of the country? Days like today really reveal my achilles heel of warm weather. San Francisco is a fantastic place to run because it is rarely this warm. Just last week my hands went a little numb from the cold while I was standing around pre-run. But the caveat is that when it does get hot, or if I went to a race that is hot, I have no heat acclimation and devolve into a puddly mess on the street.

Thursday: 6 miles including 4 miles @ 8:39 pace; My beloved fog rolled back in and I had a great tempo run.

Friday: 3 miles @ 9:47 pace; It was nice and cool in San Francisco and my legs felt great. Feeling marathon-ready today, for sure!

Tomorrow I am running the Santa Rosa Marathon. Originally when I was scheduling races this year I decided I would do a full training cycle for this race and flex my legs a little. I am hoping to push for a PR at the Texas Marathon in January. I feel that it would be good for my psychological confidence to run something faster than the 4:40's I've been tra-la-lalling out most of this year. I've had a pretty decent training cycle and am pretty confident I have a nice run in my legs. The real wild card will be the weather. It is looking good but it is still warmer than the optimal temperatures in which I've run most of my faster races.

My A-goal is a sub 4:20. I think I will be pretty pleased with anything up to a 4:25. I'm going to try my best to finish in that time range. It has been a long time since I've dug deep at a marathon and I am actually looking forward to tomorrow. I've been telling myself lately that the point of this race isn't only to put down a good time. It was just as important to get some solid training back into my legs to give me a good base to jump off for Texas training in October. I definitely feel like I've accomplished that. However, I think if I tell myself that the time doesn't matter I won't try as hard tomorrow so I am trying to find a balance between those two ideas.