Friday, April 8, 2011

Let's Talk Numbers

So, my half is a week from tomorrow. 

It's my fourth half marathon, and the second since I had the twins in March of last year.  It's the Oshkosh half-marathon, and it is also the first half I ever did, and I finished in around 2:10 I think.

The next one was the Chicago Rock n Roll half, where I PR'd with 2:06, and I was also unknowingly pregnant with the boys...

I took a big long break for the pregnancy, and jumped back in with the Chicago Rock n Roll in 2010, where I suffered through with a horrible, awful, painful 2:45ish.  I ran with my best girlfriend, the hilarious and beautiful Rachel:


She loves my babies :)
 Here's us at the race expo last year:                                 

If only that were our finishing time...

I don't know what went wrong with this race exactly.  I was very undertrained, nursing, four months post-partum and a good twenty pounds heavier  than my last half, so maybe those things had something to do with it.... ha.  This is us at mile six, before we wanted to hang ourselves with our running shoes:
Me in the blue, Rachel in green
Haha - coincidentally, this picture was taken a few minutes before my milk randomly decided there must be a hungry baby nearby, so after noticing the growing wet spots on my chest, I just squirted water all over myself to make it blend in.  Only, it wasn't water, it was my patented 50/50 water gatorade mix... so I had sticky orange stuff mingling with the sweat and breastmilk.  Man, I am so attractive.  My husband is a lucky man. 

So anyway, are you still with me after that history lesson?  yikes, sorry about that.   Here's the moral of the story.  All I've been thinking about for a month is my time for this half marathon.  Rachel and I have exchanged pages-long email strings detailing what we believe to be the essential goals every runner needs:

  1. The If-I-Don't-Get-This-I'll-Die Goal
  2. The Stated Goal
  3. The Secret Goal
  4. The Super-Duper-Secret Goal
 I came up with my numbers for all of them... but to ensure that I'm not too embarrassed to come back and update you all, I'm only going to give you #2 and #3. 

Ok... drumroll please.....

I REALLY want to get under

2:15:00

But I REALLY REALLY want to get under 2:10.

We'll see.  I'm terrified just seeing it in black and white. 

Does anyone have anything really fun they're doing this weekend?  I think it'll finally be warm enough in Wisconsin to get out with the kiddos!  Woo!

4 comments:

  1. I enjoyed reading your post!! I am so excited for your half and totally know you can get your goal times!! Keep a positive mindset and stay confident :)

    Nothing too exciting planned this weekend...the weather here is BLAH and rainy so probably hanging out indoors with my pup and getting caught up on cleaning and work.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Have fun! I thought about the Oshkosh half, but I think my husband would have had me committed, since that would've made 4 half marathons in 2 months. Which I still think is totally doable...and stuff.

    My next is the Door County on 5/7. Exactly 8 days before the Cellcom.

    I had to laugh at the goals...because every runner does this! My stated goal for DC is 2:25 (it's pretty hilly, I hear it's worse than the DL), but my secret goal is 2:20 (super secret 2:15).

    For the Cellcom my stated goal is 2:20, secret is 2:15 (super secret 2:10). I think if I actually HIT 2:10 I might drop dead from shock right there at the finish line.

    My kryptonite is the temperature, though. I am crap in the heat. My first half was 2:43ish...in 80 degree weather. I wanted to DIE. So, if the temps are 50 or below, I might hit my secret goals. If they're 50 - 60 I'll likely hit my stated goals. If it's above 60? All bets are off, especially if it's sunny!

    And being May in Wisconsin...it'll be 30 (which would be AWESOME) or 80 (which would be AWFUL)

    We'll have to try to meet up at the Cellcom!

    Amy (from the BBC Multiples board)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my gosh Amy, that's a lot of half marathons! You rock! Can't wait to see how your next two go - I am not a cold weather lover, but how about we compromise for the GB and get 45 degree weather? That would be PERFECT!! Yes, we totally have to meet up... is your husband bringing your kiddos to cheer for mama?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'll take 45, as long as it doesn't warm up to 60 during the race!

    Jamie will more than likely be working the race (Ashwaubenon is his stomping ground) so he'll cheer me on as I run by him at an intersection. It's motivation...I'll be damned if he or his coworkers are going to see me looking whipped :)

    Good luck on Saturday!

    ReplyDelete

Hearing from you makes me happy! :)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...