What a Rush

So here I sit, still sore from the marathon. My legs are pretty tight, as you can imagine. But I feel pretty good, all things considered. As I recuperate and prepare for Sunday's Ring Around the Neck 5-miler in Marblehead, I've also begun to plan my exploits for the fall marathon season. I've already committed to do the Reach the Beach relay in September, but I'm also pretty sure I'm going to run the Maine Marathon on October 4. I ran it back in 2002; it was my second marathon and my first sub-4:00 time (3:59:50, to be exact). It's an out-and-back course with some rolling hills but nothing too painful. I enjoyed the experience, but my desire to run it again has more to do with scheduling than anything else. Because I also want to run the Mountain Madness 50K trail race in Ringwood, NJ, which also happens to be where Matt and Tricia reside. The race is on October 17, the same date Deb will be out in San Fran to run the Nike Women's Half-Marathon. Matt's going to do the 50K (31 miles); it takes place in Ringwood State Park, which is literally behind his house and where I have done many a long run. It won't be easy, but Maine could almost serve as a training run for the longer race. Anyway, that's what I'm thinking right now.

Looking back at my Boston performance, I was bummed at first for not breaking 3:50, but when I consider the headwind, I think I did pretty well. Also, I ran less than 3 minutes slower than my time in Chicago in 2006, when I had a flat course, no headwind and no cramps or other problems to deal with. Not too shabby.

That said, I haven't been pleased with my level of fitness the last few marathons. I'm running at 160 pounds, which isn't heavy by any stretch of the imagination, but I want to drop 10 pounds over the next three months or so. That way, I can be at 150 when I start training for my fall events. The reasoning is you can drop a minute per pound you lose off your race time; I want to get my marathon time into the 3:30s. I'm not going to radically change my exercise plan because I think I work out about as much as I possibly can. And I'm not going on a special diet. But I do plan to reduce the portion sizes and cut the crap out of my diet (desserts, soda, candy). I want to try and lose a pound a week until I'm down around 150, which I think is where I need to be. We'll see how it goes.