A New Goal and A New Training Schedule

Time: 38:19 min.
Distance: 3.09 mi.
Time of day: 6:50 a.m.
Pace: 12:24 m/mi.
Temperature: 76°F. Humid, overcast, getting ready to rain. (In fact, it started pouring down rain as we closed the garage door after running.)


I have decided to run the Lewis & Clark Half Marathon on 10/3/10. And, with that race now on my calendar, I worked out a training schedule yesterday. Because I am still a beginner runner (as Coach Jeni occasionally has to remind me) I had her review my schedule and make appropriate changes.


So my actual goal is to finish this half marathon around 2h 45m. That will shave about 10 min. off my Go!St. Louis race time. Coupled with the warm weather and the need for speed, I have my work cut out for me.


So where did this decision come from? 


In the goody bag from the Go!St. Louis race was a postcard about the Lewis & Clark race. I had laid it on my workstation back in April as a reminder that maybe I would want to run in the race. I was cleaning off my workstation last week and picked it up. "Hmmm," I thought. I mentioned the possibility to Coach Jeni and she thought it was a great idea—an early fall race would be a great reason to keep running all summer. 


Yesterday I was going through a stack of CDs & DVDs I had accumulated around my computer and found one I had received back in January when I bought my running shoes. It was a program that originally aired on PBS about training for and running the GO!St. Louis Marathon. The program follows 3 or 4 runners training for the half and the marathon. It was so inspirational! It brought tears to my eyes a couple of times. It reminded me why I started running in the first place and how good I feel when I run consistently. 


So that did it. I immediately worked on the training schedule and sent it off to Coach Jeni. It officially starts Monday, 06/21, but I got back out there today and will run again Saturday and Sunday. I'm so excited!