My Realistic Half Marathon Plan

I’m going to be completely honest on this one – I am not in the best shape for this half marathon. I made a training plan, but then really only ended up running 2-3 days a week. So I decided that I need to be realistic in my expectations for the Sun Half Marathon this Sunday in Lowell, MA.

Taking a look at my past two half marathons, I ran a 1:49:14 and a 1:46:00. That is about an 8:20 and 8:05 pace respectively. That’s simply not going to happen for this one. I am surmising that I might be able to run a consistent 8:30-8:35 pace (please note, even this could be too fast for me). So my goal time for this upcoming race is between 1:51 – 1:55. I’ll be using it more as a training run than anything else. I want to slowly work my way back into marathon training mode, so when I officially start training for Boston in December my body won’t be shocked.

Also, I wanted to share the pace band I created for Lauren.

I laminated the strip of paper and then you wrap it around your wrist and tape it. So while most of the time, you’ll be watching your Garmin or stop watch, you can then look quickly at the pace band to see where you are supposed to be and adjust accordingly. Like I said, I didn’t really use my band until around the 22 mile mark.

So – does anyone know someone else running the Baystate Marathon this weekend?

We are leaving tomorrow around 11-12:00 p.m. to head out that way, hit up the expo, drive the course, find the start and finish, and then have some pasta dinner. It’s time to get pumped up!! I’m not even running a marathon and I’m psyched!

Hope you all have a good weekend! And goodluck to any other marathoners out there running this weekend. 🙂