Talk of the town this week has been the weather and it hasn't been small talk.
Runners in online forums have been paying close attention to the April 16 forecast all week and this past Monday the swings and variations on websites saw anything from 50 and raining (please god) to 85+ with a tailwind (shoot me).
Three days out it's looking like mid 80s is a lock and there's speculation of the race being "black flagged", true under 3 hour racers dropping out and people reminicing about the 85 degree marathon in 2004 where 2,000 people DNFd and another 2,000 made use of medical tents along the way. Others are talking of 2010 Chicago where the race was "cancelled" after half the field started cause they just couldn't get enough water on the course.
So what does all of this mean?
Is it internet paranoia? Is there a real fear of going out at goal pace and overheating in the first 5 miles? Will I be using the limbs of fallen runners to pull myself up heartbreak hill?
There are various pacing formulas that tell you how much you need to back off your "race" pace at temps above 65 degrees. At 85 its looking like a 10-20% drop off.
It's kind of frustrating, after training for 16 weeks, never missing a session to think I'll have to back off that much. Turn it into a "fun-run" if you can call 26.2 miles such a thing.
But really, what did aiming for 3:40 really mean? It's completely arbitrary. It wouldn't be a Boston Qualifying time. It was a time and goal I set that I know in decent conditions I could reach and most likely break.
Is the Boston Marathon those 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Copley Square? Or is it everything else that surrounds it? The winter training, the lonely 20 milers in February, the anticipation?
What's it really about right now? It's about going out on the best day of the year, of any year, running my ass off (whether it takes 3:40, 4 flat or 4:20), and having a BLAST!
So that's my plan. Winter, Summer, Fall, I've always felt that a 9 per mile pace was something I could run forever. So I think that's going to be my goal pace. For at least the first 20. We can take stock and decide to race the last 6 then. Wth any luck I can put in a sub-4 hour marathon and have a story to tell for the rest of my life.
Tomorrow I have an easy 3 mile run where I will try and tone it down a bit to see what 9 minute miles on the road feel like, pick my best friend up at the train station, and go to a one-year-old's birtday party. It's going to be awesome.
Monday, I'm gonna go out, and have the best fucking day of my life.
