The Goal Post

Last Tuesday, the day after I wrote my last post, I went for a run. On pretty much the last step of my run, at the bottom of our [not-so-smooth] driveway, I landed funny and felt a weird poppy-crunchy sensation in my knee. It wasn’t an intense pain, but it kind of jolted me and really just felt ‘off’ (and continued to feel ‘off’ for the rest of the day and the day that followed).

I’m not going to lie - it freaked me out. A lot. So much so, that I didn’t tell anyone for a few days aside from Shane and Adam (and it took me a day and a half to send the "PANIC" email to him). I think I felt like if I didn’t admit it, it didn’t happen. Couple that with the typical anxiousness that comes with the taper and well, look out!

Maybe it was because the marathon is so close, or maybe it was because I realized I didn’t want to be fighting an injured knee all summer training for TRR, but I did something I know a lot of runners don’t do well (myself included), and I listened to my body. I trusted my gut and I rested. I skipped workouts that were planned for Wednesday and only did yoga on Thursday. I iced, I elevated. Yeah, I probably babied my knee more than I needed to, but I think it was the right thing to do.

By the time Friday morning hit, my knee was feeling significantly better – definitely less tender and less stiff. I could walk up and down the stairs without any weird sensations, and so, I went for a run. It took a bit to get warmed up, but once I did, I felt pretty good.

I followed that up on Saturday and Sunday with similar success. Decent runs without too much strange stuff happening in my knee… and so, I'm feeling cautiously optimistic.

Anyway, I know I need to be careful and not overdo things in the coming week, but I feel like maybe I’m actually learning. Learning how to listen to my body, learning how to not be so obsessed with “getting the workout done” and learning to just kinda go with the flow.

So, minor injury scare aside, I think it is time to make a note about some of my goals for this marathon.

Of course, I have time goals…
I would like to say my ‘A’ goal would be to run a BQ, which is 3:35:00 for my age group, but that is more of a dream than an actual goal. I think one day I will be able to do it, but at this time, I feel like it would probably take absolutely everything going perfectly, and well, rainbows shooting out of my butt or something magical (like a unicorn sighting?) to help propel me to the finish line in that time.

So, my real ‘A’ goal, and the one I have been training for, is a 3:45:00. I think it is doable. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t in any way think this will be easy, in fact, holding a 5:20/km pace for 42.2km will be very challenging for me, but I feel like I’ve trained well and it is achievable. I believe I can do it. Of course, even though I believe I can do it, I’d still appreciate everyone crossing their fingers for me and sending positive “speedy” vibes my way on race morning.

My ‘B’ goal would be sub 4. That is totally arbitrary and based on nothing other than the fact that I feel like I should be able to go sub 4 and well, it seems like a lot of first time marathoners aim for that mark. So yeah, that is that.

‘C’ goal is to finish. Although, you know, I don’t know if that is really a "goal", as I know I can finish a marathon. I guess I don’t need a ‘C’ time goal, do I? I guess, if the day turns out to be a "just finish" kinda day, my goal is to cross the finish line without feeling disappointed – to finish the race holding my head high and smiling.

My Non-time Goals are more pace related...
I would like to run a smart race. I want to run a nice even pace and not go out too fast. My goal is to be patient. My goal is to stay steady through 30k-35k and then, if I’m feeling good, try to pick up the pace a bit. I guess what I’m saying is I would like to negative split. I think a negative split is kind of like a unicorn sighting to a lot of newbie marathon runners and, well, I want to see what the negative splitting unicorn really looks like. 

Also, no urgent bathroom breaks please. My goal is to have all that business taken care of before the gun goes off. Good goal right?

So, these are my goals. My race number is 2016 if you'd like to follow along online or if you’ll be in Vancouver and want to yell nice things at me. I’ll be in black tights and a green shirt (haha, that totally narrows it down, doesn’t it).

Oh and one more goal... maybe a good race photo if I’m lucky. :)