New Plan

So it's been a little over a week since the Midsummer Night's Run 30K, and just like childbirth the memories of pain and fatigue are slowly fading away leaving behind a night that I'll always remember. Well, until I'm super old and have to rely on the tattoo on my wrist to remind me that I have two sons.

K is for Kyle. N is for Noah. My sister stole my idea and now has JC on her wrist after her
son Jesus Christ. Ha, just kidding. It's Jonathon and Christian.

 

On Saturday I met up with Patty for my 24k long run. Patty's been around the proverbial marathon block a few times so when I told her that I absolutely ran out of gas the last 5k of MSNR she told me that it was probably because my weekday mileage isn't high enough. Oddly, I had just been reading an article the day before that pretty much said the same thing. Patty said that if I want to do Around the Bay in March I should follow a marathon plan rather than just doing a half plan and bumping up the long runs like I did for Midsummer. In her defense, she did tell me to follow a marathon plan when I signed up for MSNR but of course because I've been running for a whole year I know what I'm doing and didn't take her advice. Hindsight. Boo. So Patty sent me 3 marathon plans Saturday afternoon and I've now picked one. I've also decided that if I'm going to train for a marathon I may as well just do one. So that's my goal race in the spring. Obviously like childbirth, I didn't learn my lesson the first time and am going back for more. Wish me luck!

 

I've also decided to see if bumping up my weekday mileage will help me with my 2 halfs that I have coming up. Oakville Half Marathon on Sept 23 and Scotia Waterfront Half on October 14. My goal is to run 1:55 or less at one of these. If I can get that time then I will qualify for the final corral at ATB in March and won't have to deal with the mass start. ATB has 9000 participants (including 500 relay teams) and this is the first year that they are introducing corrals. This race has been around since 1894 and this is the first year that they are bringing in corrals? CRAZY! I am more than comfortable running 21.1K but I'll take anything that might help me reach my goal.