Goals for America's Finest City

I don't think I have shared my goals for my upcoming half marathon. I wasn't even sure I wanted to run it. After the marathon, I couldn't imagine training again so soon. But, I had raced two-thirds of the Triple Crown and it would be silly for me to give up that extra medal! When I signed up, my goal was to just run it. Then I started training and my competitive juices started flowing.

So here are my various time goals for this race:
Platinum- A PR! I ran the Carlsbad Half in 1:52:46, so a PR is a tall order. That is what I have been training for. [my double secret platinum goal is to get 1:50.... sssshhhhh]
Gold- Under 1:56:39. This was my time for the La Jolla Half. That is the hardest race of the three half marathons, so I figure I should be able to run AFC faster than La Jolla.
Silver- Under two hours. My goal last year for this race was to break two. I came close, but didn't quite make it. I know that I have the ability to finish this race well under two hours. I feel like I need to get a little redemption for last year. We'll see...
Bronze- Finishing with my friends and trainees. I have decided that if the wheels fall off and it looks like I am not going to make it under two hours, I am going to wait for my friends and finish with them. This is my last San Diego race for a while and I want to have positive memories. I would rather think of this race as a race where I finished with friends (a couple are doing their first half) than the one where I finished a few minutes shy of my goal. I have actually gone back and forth as to whether or not I want to just run the entire race with them. The reason I decided not to is because this is my first race since my certification training and I want to see my training through until the end, so I can better coach my clients. This last goal gives me a win-win outcome. In this case, missing my goal by a half an hour is way better than missing it by a few minutes.

I am really excited about the race. There are so many of my friends running it this year. As I mentioned before, some of them are running their first half marathon. Two of them are running their first 5K on Sunday. One is running four months after having a baby. And another is looking to get a PR by 10-15 minutes. It will be a big deal for everyone. It will be a fun day.


********************************************************************
Update on my running:
First of all, I want to thank everyone for the virtual slap about my whine yesterday. You are right. I am tapering. I should be taking it easy. Obsessing about one run is not going to help anything. Thanks for snapping some sense into me!

I took the kids to the track last night. After wasting a bit of their window of attention by talking with my husband on the phone, I tried to run a bit. I should have planned better. They both wanted to run with me (and both were wearing some sort of summer shoe not conducive to running). My first lap was very slow, shuffling with a three- and a five-year-old. My five-year-old experienced his very first side stitch (awww) and it was cute watching him run with his arm laying on his head (that is what works for me). That lap was my warm up. It tired the kids out enough for them to play a bit with some toys we brought.

I was able to get in a mile at an 8:05 pace. Ah, redemption! It was hard, but I didn't feel the overwhelming need to sit down afterward. I was able to get my legs moving without my lungs ending up in my throat. I ended up doing a little more than two and a half miles total. I was hoping to get in a little over three, but when kids are done, they are done. They were bored and hungry. At least I was able to run a little and it was fun!

The best news of the evening was that my five-year-old ran pretty close to a mile (with a few breaks in the middle). He did the two last laps in a row with very little stopping. He officially wants to find a one mile kids' race. I told him that he would have to train for it so that he could run a mile without stopping*. He is excited to do it!

*I am not going to push my child to run without stopping. I need him to realize that in order to run a race, he needs to practice. By telling him he needs to do it without stopping, he knows it isn't super easy.