One more day left in 2008

It was cold in New York today. I ran for about 8 miles (one big loop and one lower loop) and tried to keep my pace steady in the last 6 miles of the run. The “distance runs” in the Boston training marathon are supposed to be run at an easy pace. This is different from tempo runs that are run close to marathon pace and the notorious MLRs (I will describe what they are after I run one!). This time, the steady pace turned out to be around 7:30 minute/mile.
Tomorrow is the last day of 2008! A group of us are going to run the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run in Central Park. It is going to snow also. I am trying to arrange my schedule so I can go there and cheer the friends who are running this race. I won’t be able to run in it.
And then of course there is a before- and after-party. Thanks Rob!

First day of training

Today was the first day of training in the 16 week program. The training program I am following (from the Boston Marathon Website) lists Monday as a rest day, but we have our speed workouts on Monday and Wednesdays. So I have to move the days around a little bit and have my rest day on Tuesday or Wednesday. Is it a coincidence that Boston Marathon is run on a Monday, and the training program always lists Monday as a rest day?

Today we had a warm-up jog to the great hill oval track (about 2 miles). Then we did 7 oval repeats (about 350 meters) as a relay team. My team-mate was Erika and we ran really hard. My thighs were hurting a good bit near the end and I was having difficulty keeping up with Jess at the last loop. Nice stamina, Jess! What was interesting was I felt I can not clear my feet off the ground on the last two loops. The heaviness from fatigue was getting to me. At the end we jogged back to where we started. We ran for a total of 6.5 miles today, but my wristband recorded only 4.5 miles because I forgot to start it at the beginning.

The photos above are from the Ted Corbitt 15K. This was the last race of 2008. Due to bad weather (freezing temperature, frozen road), it was not a scored race. I was late to the race because I was working overnight and couldn’t get out on time, so I didn’t run with Rob and Erika. They ended up having two bandit pacers. Stacy and Bruno were there for part of the run with them. It was hard to run fast on frozen roads and I ended finishing at about 3:05 time. A memorable moment was when I found myself at the very end of the run being right behind Mary Wittenberg, the President of NYRR and Race Director of ING NYC Marathon (Last photo on the right). She was running at a fast steady pace and I tried really hard to get past her and the guy running with her. After she finished the run, she jumped right back in to run a few minutes with Gary Corbitt, Ted’s son, who was running this inaugural race in honor of his dad.

The beginning

This is a blog about training for and running in Boston Marathon 2009. The opportunity to qualify for and run in Boston was given to me through training at West Side YMCA RRC, undoubtedly the most fun and inspiring group of running maniacs imaginable ever.

We are 16 weeks away from the Boston Marathon. Since the official training program is 16 weeks and I haven't started training according to a plan yet, I thought starting the blog might help me start training seriously, and also share some stories along the way with my friends.

What are my goals? I am not sure yet. I want to run faster than I did in Philadelphia (3:09 and change), but I know Boston has a hilly course. I have been looking at the elevation chart of the course for the past two weeks every day. Ideally, I would like to beat Lance Armstrong by running a sub-three marathon. Fantasizing further, I would like to qualify for New York by running faster than 2:55, but that seems a bit too crazy.

I guess I will know better what is reachable and what is not after my first half marathon in 2009.