Mission Keep Up

All right! I have a plan for Sunday! It feels good to make a decision, and I am super excited about the one I have made for Columbus. My buddy Salty will be running her first marathon under Coach Glenn's tutelage and she has the goal of running 2:57-3:03. This would be a nice PR for her and the goal will be to accompany her for as long as possible and try and help keep her close to that 57 and sub 3 goal with some positive reinforcement and fun atmosphere :)

Not going to lie, this would be an excellent time for my current fitness and lack of focused training since the Indy half. So I have no delusions that this will be a walk in the park. But having run 16 with Salty two weeks ago at 6:47 pace I think I can certainly run with her for 16-20 miles around that pace, and hopefully gut it out the last 10k-10 miles. My buddy Brian did this for me two years ago at Columbus knowing full well he probably wasn't trained to go the full way with me, he made it about 19 miles and I had such a great day with him. I feel excited that I can pay it forward in the hopes that Salty gets some of the Columbus magic I have been so blessed with in my three marathons there. (And selfishly I'd love another sub 3 for the resume and a negative split race would be icing on the cake.)

I'm taking off the "pacer" hat for this one though and will just be along for the ride with Salty for as long as my feet and legs can hold on until I have to party my way to the finish. I don't want to micromanage her race and really will just be there for moral support until she runs away from me or kicks me to the curb. Also I plan to have fun with this one. I may have to work hard, but I'm turning 30 the day before the race and I plan to ham it up a bit race day and enjoy those great Columbus crowds! My friend GP has this great tiara with a 30 on it that is the perfect weight for racing so I will be rolling out princess style the whole weekend and for my first race in this new age group! I plan to get as many funny weekend photos as possible and really absorb the spectators and music along the course on Sunday!

I'm really looking forward to my first marathon weekend as a 30 year old! Lots of great friends and family will be there for the weekend, I know it is going to be a blast!