Establishing a New Goal

I’ve noted in earlier posts that I don’t make resolutions; I set goals for the new year. Last year my goal was to run 3:30 and thereby qualify for the Boston Marathon, which I managed to do by a mere 15 seconds. Now, like others who qualified for Boston for the first time, I’m struggling to reset my goals. I’ve thought about Boston since 1982, when I was a spectator at the “Duel in the Sun.” I’ve trained with Boston in mind since 2006. Over three years I worked my marathon time down from 4:06 to 3:30. Boston is now 15 weeks away and I’ve yet to identify a realistic goal for that race or moving forward. “Run as fast as I can” is not sufficiently specific. Given the difficulty of the Boston course, I was thinking that something in the range of 3:20 to 3:30 is realistic.

But what about moving forward? I’ve thought about aiming for 3:10, which would allow me a guaranteed entry into the New York Marathon, or 3:15, which would qualify me for the London Marathon. Some people say that there is nothing like running Boston, so they run it every year. But that would mean passing up on other winter and spring marathons, like Disney, London, Houston, and Napa Valley. In addition, training to run 3:10 or 3:15 would require significantly more work than I currently do (65 miles/week max), so I’d have to determine when I could run those additional miles.

I guess I’ll aim for 3:20 in Boston, then reassess my goals after the race. One thing is certain. I told my wife that I plan to load up on Boston Marathon logo gear at the expo, just so I can wear it in public.