Looking forward by looking back

Today Meredith posted her final countdown, her reflections on how the race next week is going to shake out. One thing she mentioned was holding a strong pace even through the hills.

While I’m not going to do the same exercice (list positives, negatives and thoughts), I did decide to take a look back at previous years to assess how things have gone.

My Boston experience in 2005 wasn’t great; I struggled a lot (granted, it was only my second marathon). In 2006 it was decent, but things really fell into place in 2008. I ran my third fastest marathon at the time (3:36:08), and things just ticked along. My average heart rate was 173, with a max of 185.

A lot of folks have asked me if they think my living at altitude will make a difference. Well, I’ve already run two marathons since moving, so really the results should be showing by now!

In the Last Chance marathon in February, I ran a 3:35:23, in a decent effort after barely running all month. My average heart rate was 173, with a max of 187.

I started out March really strong, running every day. I faltered halfway through the month, but I have been getting my motivation back (sunshine helps!) As well, doing roller derby practice for 4 hours a week is great cross-training, too.

I don’t have any huge goals for next Monday: between 3:30 – 3:45 would make me happy. Running sub 3:36:08 would make me REALLY happy. But if it doesn’t work out, I won’t fret. I never got any official training in place to make it happen. I’ll just be interested to see how it turns out.