Friday, April 15, 2011

BOSTON

Travel day tomorrow, I can’t believe I am doing the Boston Marathon in a few days.

Finally nailed down what I am going to wear and its going to wrap myself in the flag. The only thing that remains undecided is the race plan. Originally I planned on just having fun and forget about the time. After talking Bevin from Hanover who is bib 817 I decided I would race it. Being bib #11268 I would only be racing against myself but in the back of my mind I am thinking PB and a BQ05 which would be a sub 3:30. My STWM BQ was a 3:29:07 but that was 7 months ago. I have been doing my home work and feel prepared to run that time again. Now last night I get a call from Doug Barber wishing me well. He told me that his first Boston 20 years ago he was shooting for a PB somewhere around 2:47 and he finished in 3:01 and was quite disappointed. The words from the veteran were “ don’t try to PB it just go have fun” . I have been glued to all that is Boston on the Web this week…the majority of the advice is to go have fun your making history..blah blah blah ! So now I am indecisive , what do I do? I know what I don’t want to do and that’s blow up. Having thousands pass by while doing the death march is not the way I wasn’t to remember Boston.

So , my race plan, go out at a 5:00 pace and hold it until it gets uncomfortable. I don’t find a 5:00 pace all that particularly difficult the challenge is to maintain it thought the entire 42.2. I don’t take myself too seriously so its not going to be a big deal to have fun and maintain a 5:00 pace and if I do a 4:00 Boston then I will have taken lost of pictures along the way and had a beer or two.

1 comment:

Eliza Ralph-Murphy said...

Ron,
Only you know why you are running this race so only you can decide what you want to get out of it and how you should run it. I'll be following you so if I see you blow-up with 5 miles to go I will know you went for it and I will applaud you for it, if I see you cruise in at 4hrs. I'll know you had fun and I will smile along with you, if I see you're on pace for that PR I will be screaming for you hold on all the way to the end. You know I want you to go for it because quite frankly it will make for a more exciting race for me. Your friend on the other hand wants to spare you the disappointed he felt so he wants you to have fun. Now you have to decide. Just make sure you know which one you are doing as you start the race then do it wholeheartedly. All the Best of Luck to you.
Eliza