Sometimes I miss it, sometimes no

So I've been reading lots of great IM CdA race reports and it kind of makes me miss Ironman.

But then I remember that I'd have to spend hours and hours and hours on my bike.  That's the rub.  No can do, people.  Just not going to happen.  Even making a 3 hour ride happen takes an act of divine intervention these days with all the storms we are having.

Yesterday?  I snuck out for a 2 hour ride and it was fabulous.  But a little bit lonely.  Because I have to ride when I have to ride, not at any scheduled time and certainly not with a group of people.  How on earth can I get a group of people to coordinate with my random schedule that follows no schedule?!  So alone is nice, but a little....lonely.

Being the best ring bearer and flower girl EVER last weekend

Right now, there is nowhere these guys want to be except with me.  And for now?  I'm gonna just gladly accept that role.  Pretty soon, they will want nothing to do with me.  And maybe then I can start a ride that doesn't leave from my house and start at 2:37pm on a Wednesday afternoon.

I am all registered for the Columbus Marathon and I'm super excited.  We had to predict our time for corrals so I had to officially type, "3:39.59" and YES I know I have until 3:40.00 but I'm gonna aim large here and go for that extra whole second.  I think this is a very difficult but very doable goal for me.  Time-wise, training for a marathon is not nearly as many hours as training for an Ironman, yet it really beats up your body a LOT more.  I'm trying to be really proactive about injury and balance the running with cross-training.  Instead of waiting to get injured, I'm trying this thing were I go to ART now and have him spot me some problems before they turn into full out achilles tendonitis or other such nonsense.

I'm also looking forward to hammering a little sprint tri in July and then Nationals in August...where my big goal is to crack the top half!  It will be kind of fun being a very tiny fish in a HUGE pond.  I'm looking forward to hopefully rising to the level of competition there.

So the long slow 5 hour rides will wait...and to be honest, I'm not entirely sure I really miss them. I think I just miss the idea of the finish line. :)

On the Playlist

YES.

YESYESYES.

This and my other tune of choice got me through 20 minutes at 7:40 pace at the end of my long run yesterday morning.

Raise those hands, this is our party
We came here to live life like nobody was watching
I got my city right behind me
If I fall, they got me. Learn from that failure gain humility and then we keep marching ourselves

Here we go back, this is the moment
Tonight is the night, we’ll fight 'til it’s over
So we put our hands up like the ceiling can’t hold us
Like the ceiling can’t hold us

I Think it's Time to Admit Something

So I've always sort of believed that Boston was on the high end of what I could accomplish and that it would take me a minor miracle to get there.  Or, more time than I'm willing to give at the moment.

But then, this happened:

Now that's not all of my runs, but it's probably a good 60-70% of my miles since early in the season.  So when I took a good look at it the other day and realized what the average pace was that I held for the past 53 runs with my phone, I had a bit of an epiphany.

I can absolutely, without a doubt run a 3:40 marathon.  It's not even a question anymore.  If I do not run a 3:40 marathon, it will be because of one of two things: my head, or an injury.

So I need to work on those things. Because that limit I thought was impossible?

It just isn't anymore.

Way back in the day, like 10 years ago, my buddy Coach Kara told me that I "haven't even come close to hitting the times I'm capable of."  She's kind of an exercise-phys genius and stuff and I really should have listened, but I really didn't think she had that right.

Now I'm staring down the barrel of Age 36 with two kids, and holy crap, I'm the leanest and fastest I've ever been in my life.  Ever.

I certainly would NOT have called that 10 years ago.

So Operation Get My Head Out of the Way and Don't Get Injured Too is in full-effect.  Along the way, I hope to kick some ass in a few tris, too, but my eyes are looking toward October with great anticipation.

It's time to do what it's pretty obvious to me (finally) I can do.