At this time a week from now I should be somewhere between the 9 and 10 mile markers on Minnehaha Parkway in the 2008 Twin Cities Marathon. It's been a year and 3 months since my last marathon (which was a disaster) and I've been itching to get this one underway ever since. A marathon is almost like an addiction; once you complete that first one you gotta do another and then another.
I've never been more excited for a marathon though than this one. My entire family is getting in on the fun of the weekend this year. My sister and her boyfriend are going to be running in the 5K at the State Capitol on Saturday morning and the entire family is going to the expo afterwards. On Sunday, my girlfriend's (Jen) mom, Jill, will be running in the TC 10 Mile and then the marathon will begin. I am shooting for a new P.R. this year and if the weather cooperates I think it will be well within my reach. My current P.R. is 2:59:01 set at Grandma's 2006 and it's my only sub 3:00 to date. I also want to re-qualify for Boston so I can get myself back out to Boston for a little redemption on that course in either 2009 or 2010.
Good luck to those running next weekend as well. Enjoy the final week of tapering...it is probably the most exciting frustrating week of the year!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Countdown is Underway
I have now officially begun the countdown to this year's Twin Cities Marathon. With less than 3 weeks to go, my tapering has gradually begun. I completed my final long run last Saturday, a 22 miler on the marathon course on a rainy cool morning. It felt good despite how tired my body was. I was certainly sore from it but recovered rather quickly and am feeling very good now about getting ready to run 4.2 miles longer than that in a couple weeks.
My body has been physically and mentally taxed over the last 2 weeks more than ever before in my life. Being a teacher and training seriously for a marathon at the beginning of a school year has been a great challenge. My runs have often been a great stress reliever at the end of a busy day of working with high school kids. Teaching 3 different science classes has required a lot of time in and out of school for preparation of labs and activities as well as grading students' work plus doing what I can to be getting my body ready for the marathon. With each day though, it is becoming better and better, and easier to get everything done I need to get done.
And with each day, I'm loving the profession of teaching more and more. I am getting to know my students better each day and am building some good student-teacher relationships with many of them. I am also keeping my students posted on my preparation for the marathon. I keep a countdown on my board in my classroom and they all think I'm nuts for doing it, but many of them are going to be coming out to the race to cheer me on, which I think is very cool considering I've only been in this school for 3 weeks.
It's an exciting and busy time for me, one that I am loving and I certainly each day continues to get better like it has been.
God Bless,
- Brandon
My body has been physically and mentally taxed over the last 2 weeks more than ever before in my life. Being a teacher and training seriously for a marathon at the beginning of a school year has been a great challenge. My runs have often been a great stress reliever at the end of a busy day of working with high school kids. Teaching 3 different science classes has required a lot of time in and out of school for preparation of labs and activities as well as grading students' work plus doing what I can to be getting my body ready for the marathon. With each day though, it is becoming better and better, and easier to get everything done I need to get done.
And with each day, I'm loving the profession of teaching more and more. I am getting to know my students better each day and am building some good student-teacher relationships with many of them. I am also keeping my students posted on my preparation for the marathon. I keep a countdown on my board in my classroom and they all think I'm nuts for doing it, but many of them are going to be coming out to the race to cheer me on, which I think is very cool considering I've only been in this school for 3 weeks.
It's an exciting and busy time for me, one that I am loving and I certainly each day continues to get better like it has been.
God Bless,
- Brandon
Sunday, September 7, 2008
City of Lakes 25K
You couldn't have asked for much better weather this morning for running. It was cool, cloudy and not too humid, which translated to the great chance of having a great day of racing. At the City of Lakes 25K at Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet I had my final race leading up to next month's Twin Cities Marathon. I wasn't sure how to approach this race other than I really wanted to know where my body was at and if it could handle the kind of pace I was hoping to run next month. The first 13 miles went really well and I was running a pace that would translate to around 2:50 - 2:53 for the marathon. The last 2.5 miles were a little hilly and my legs did not like it one bit. My quads are still burning as I type this hours later but I still managed to finish in a time of 1:44:53, which would be equivalent to a 2:58 marathon. That would be a P.R. for me and considering I had a couple hard workouts earlier this week I'm feeling extremely good about it.
I'm planning for one more good long training run next week before the tapering begins. I can only hope that this amazing fall weather continues to cooperate for the next few weeks and on October 5th, we can get a day similar to today. If so, expect to see a lot of amazing times at TCM! I plan on being one of them!
I'm planning for one more good long training run next week before the tapering begins. I can only hope that this amazing fall weather continues to cooperate for the next few weeks and on October 5th, we can get a day similar to today. If so, expect to see a lot of amazing times at TCM! I plan on being one of them!
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