I
set goals for almost everything. The less consequential to my life,
the more likely I am to have a goal. I have zero goals for where I want
or need to be financially when I retire. But I will quickly calculate
that I’ll have to empty the grass catcher on the lawn mower 5 times
before I’m done and then try and only have to do it 4 times as a
challenge.
I’m
not sure when the goal of a PR in a race will fade away with the
acceptance of advancing age, but it hasn’t happened yet. I know my PR
times by heart for every distance from 5k to 50 miles and it still feels
like I can run faster than all of them. Well, maybe not my 15k PR,
that one is pretty good. I’ve had a few races that I decided to run at a
slower pace as a tune up race for something else. I’ve also had races
where I knew I wasn’t in good enough shape to PR. Most of the time,
though, I won’t race unless I think I can do something I’ve never done
before.
3:33:26. That’s it. Portland Marathon 2008. I’m not sure how many failed attempts to go faster than that there have been in the last 5 years, but there have been quite a few. Newport is a good course to run a fast time on, though I’ve never run very fast there in my 3 previous attempts. 8 days away and the weather forecast looks almost perfect, mid 50’s, partly cloudy, no rain. It’s the Oregon Coast, that will change 8 times between now and then, but right now it looks awesome. My training has gone really well, I’m in the best shape I’ve been in the last few years. Now I just need to be smart for 20 miles, tough for 6 and look good for the last .2!
