I’ve gotten many questions over the past month or so on what marathon I plan on doing. It has been kind of a crazy ride finding a race that worked with our schedule, but I am happy to announce that I am 95% positive I have officially selected a marathon!
Originally the plan was to run a marathon in the first to middle of November. It would have worked perfectly, but then my husband’s schedule got changed and he found out he would be out of town most of the end of October and first of November.
I could have run it, but he really wanted to be there for my first attempt at a BQ, and lets face it I want him there as well!
I went back to the drawing board and spent hours looking at all the marathons within the area (2-3 hours max away) and which ones would fall during the right times.
I finally came across the Kiawah Island Marathon on December 13th. It was a little later than I had originally planned on, but the time frame was perfect between mine and my husband’s schedules.
When I was looking for marathon, I wanted of course a flatter course. While I was willing to run whatever marathon would fall within our time frame, I really wanted to at least put myself in the position to have the best chance of a BQ.
The course for Kiawah is actually pretty perfect:
The elevation is pretty flat over, which is to be expected for a coastal marathon.
It also takes us back close to the city that we had our honeymoon in, Charleston, SC. It is a place that will always mean a lot to us and hopefully will mean a lot to my running as well!
I guess the next logical question will be, what are my goals for the race?
I have broken this down into several goals. I obviously would love to meet all of them, but every goal that is accomplished is a successful run in my books.
- Finish healthy
- Run a sub 4:00 marathon
- Run a sub 3:45 marathon
- Boston qualify
I would love with everything that I am to go out on race day and Boston qualify. However, I know that one of the crazy things about the marathon is that you really never know what is going to happen. Even if you have trained perfectly, and conditions are great you can still go out and have a bad day.
By setting each of these goals, I know that no matter the results on race day I will be proud of what I have accomplished. When you are coming from a 4:28 marathon PR, each one of those goals is a great accomplishment in my books!
If I hit it this time, great, if I don’t well then I will recover, regroup and go at it again in the future. I only will know if I try and that is what I am going to go out there and do! To say that this training period has been easy, would be a lie. There have been a lot of blood, sweat and tears put in and I am determined to dig deep and do the best that I can.
I wanted to thank each and every one of your for following along. Just like with any runner, we have good days and we have bad. We have days where we can’t wait to get out and run and days where we would rather do anything else. Thank you for your support. I am so excited to see what lies ahead!
There is a lot of unknown in any marathon, but regardless I can’t wait to give it a shot!
What has been your favorite marathon to run?
What are your goals for your next race? Or what goals have you met recently?
It’s so hard to choose a favorite! I’d probably say that my favorite was the Priest Lake Marathon – it was a trail marathon that had technical terrain and almost 2000 ft of elevation gain (which isn’t much but felt like the hills kept coming). The views were phenomenal and it was quite the challenge. And it was my first so it will forever hold a special place in my heart.
That marathon looks amazing! I have always wanted to visit South Carolina. You are going to do awesome on your race! I really hope you BQ, you deserve it.
My favorite marathon so far has been St. George this past October since I PRed by about 2 hours (5:50 down to 3:46!) and the course is gorgeous.
My current goal is to run a sub 21 minute 5K and hopefully place in my age group!
How fun – I am toying with locations for my first Marathon in 2015 and I want it to be in Late October at the earliest. I have never been to Kiawah, but it sounds fun. Thanks for sharing! I am probably not running my half marathon a week from Saturday, which is disappointing but the smart choice. My next race will be the Reindeer Romp complete with bells on the shoes in early December. I would love to beat my time from last year (not that hard), feel good (harder), and get to a 10 minute or sub 10 minute mile for most the race (not likely – I can dream!). Most of all – I want to have fun with it, which has not been happening with runs or races recently.
Looks great! Flat is definitely always best if you want the best chances of a BQ!
so exciting that you’ve selected a race!
You’ve got it girl! I know you’ll find success and achieve your goals!
How exciting! Good luck can’t wait to hear all about it!
Katie @ http://www.runningaragnar.com
I really want to BQ at my next marathon! I just need to pick one to train for
My parents have been to Kiawah a few times for vacation and always come back talking about how beautiful it is!! Sounds like a fun one and a good chance to BQ! If the numbers on that elevation chart are in feet that is one FLATTTTTT course! GOOD LUCK!
Can’t wait to see how you get on! 🙂
Thanks Mary!
I’ve heard great things about that race!!! It’s going to be great!
Thank you Julie! 🙂 I’m excited!