Running for Jen

Jacksonville Bank Marathon

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Location:

Athens,GA,USA

Member Since:

Apr 26, 2009

Gender:

Female

Goal Type:

Boston Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

I have completed 13 marathons, 13 half marathons and a variety of shorter distances. My PR in the marathon is now 4:11:44, December 2009. I finished my last half on October 30, 2010 and set a new PR by 48 seconds with a time of 1:53:48. Next race: Athens Half Marathon- Sunday, October 21st.

Short-Term Running Goals:

I would love to improve my times without stressing too much on race day. I would like to become a fitter and stronger runner.

Next Half Marathon: Silver Comet Half Marathon on Saturday, October 30th. Completed: Time of 1:53:48 PR!

Next Marathon: Soldier Marathon in Columbus, GA on Saturday, November 12th. Completed: Time of 4:16:58
(better than last year)

Long-Term Running Goals:

It would be pretty awesome to qualify for Boston, and I am now closer than I was before, but I still have to knock just over 25 minutes off my time.

Personal:

I am married, no kids, two dogs. I am a schoolteacher who moved in June 2009 from Florida to Georgia.

Click to donate

to Ukraine's Armed Forces

Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	0.00

Sun, Dec 20, 2009

Race: Jacksonville Bank Marathon (26.2 Miles) 04:11:44, Place overall: 439, Place in age division: 25

Easy Miles	Threshold Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Track speed mileage	Hill mileage	Total
0.00	0.00	26.20	0.00	0.00	26.20

What a Great Day! I set a personal best by over 30 minutes! Prior to this race, my best time was a 4:42:10. To break 4:15 was awesome, let alone 4:12. I even had a negative split. I was so excited! This is the first time where I have felt pretty good from beginning to end. It was cold at the start, but not as cold as it has been at home, therefore it was a perfect day for a run. I dressed perfectly for me and just enjoyed myself as much as I could. Two friends of mine met me in Jacksonville, one of which also had a PR, so all together we had a great running weekend.

I was a little worried going into this, because I have had a cold and because I was worried that I was getting a fever during my drive down to Florida. I picked up some Tylenol 8 hour, which wound up being a life saver. At the start of the race, for the first time, my GPS stopped working. I was waiting for a signal and realized that it wasn't moving. When I went to turn it off, it wouldn't turn off or do anything. It just stayed locked up. Fortunately, the race had pacers and I was able to tag along with the 4:15 guy, who I later found out was named Ed. I wound up running with him from at least 9 - 10 miles and on. I felt so relaxed. I knew that the day was going well when I still felt good at 17 and then 18 miles. At this point, my gut was telling me it was going to be a good day. At around mile 21 or so, we ran into some friends of the pacer that wound up joining us. One of them named Annie ran with me from about 23 miles to the finish, which was awesome. It was so nice having someone just to talk to me and remain positive. I didn't even know her and she saw me pulling away from the group and joined me. Those last few miles are always a bit of a struggle, so to have someone there was great. I started feeling that awkward feeling in my right leg around 23 or so, but was able to push through it.

I am now looking forward to a great night's sleep and the next two weeks off from work. I am going to enjoy some good eats for the next day or so and then get back to normal.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 0.00	Weight: 0.00	Calories: 0.00

Comments

From TBarlow on Sun, Dec 20, 2009 at 21:38:36 from 216.194.124.36

Go Dawgs - I went to HS in GA! Big congratulations on your race - what a great accomplishment!

From JD on Sun, Dec 20, 2009 at 22:00:08 from 32.178.5.198

Wow! Great PR! All your hard work paid off big! Congratulations and enjoy your break!

From vinh on Sun, Dec 20, 2009 at 22:18:00 from 71.68.254.197

Congrats on the PR and a great race! Awesome job!

From Jon on Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 01:40:45 from 198.60.103.104

Yeah! congrats on a huge PR!

From Snoqualmie on Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 12:19:28 from 24.18.192.33

WOW!!!!! That is an amazing improvement. I'm going to have to find some time to go look back at your blogs to see what kind of magical training you've been doing! I have experienced that feel-great-at-mile-18 feeling only a couple of times, and it almost made me teary to read about it in your report. It's the greatest feeling. Congratulations and happy holidays!

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 13:41:18 from 192.168.1.1

Congratulations on a huge PR!

From josse on Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 13:52:21 from 75.216.65.246

Great job that is a great PR!! Keep it up and you will bring that time down another 30 mins:)

From Bonnie on Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 13:55:30 from 128.196.228.134

Congrulations! A 30 min PR is huge! Enjoy your holidays and relish your accomplishment!

From Cookielover on Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 16:00:05 from 97.81.82.211

TBarlow - Go Dawgs! Where did you live in Georgia? Thanks!

JD, Vinh, Sasha, Jon and Bonnie - Thanks! I was so excited. Thank you for all of your encouragement and advice along the way.

Snoqualmie - The other bloggers advice. They told me to increase my mileage. It took awhile to build up, but it worked. I was running on average 25 miles per week and trained at over 50 per week for a good part of my training.

Josse - Don't tease me like that! 30 more minutes off and we are talking Boston.

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 17:21:39 from 192.168.1.1

Jennifer - your BQ is 3:45:59, right?

From fly on the Wall on Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 18:50:43 from 168.179.215.137

Congratulations on a big leap towards your BQ!!!!

From josse on Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 19:09:24 from 70.192.220.47

I have seen it done many times all you have to do is train and believe:)

From Cookielover on Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 19:30:22 from 97.81.82.211

Sasha and Josse - Yes, I am 38, therefore a 3:45:59 is my BQ time.

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 19:59:49 from 192.168.1.1

Jennifer - I crunched some numbers with the help of the blog calculator (on the left side when you are adding an entry). Your current marathon/5 K finishing time ratio is 10.32. In order to BQ without increasing your 5 K speed you would need 9.27. This is doable, but very difficult. This would something you will see in a runner who trains at 180 miles a week and is able to absorb it. The 5 K speed needs to be increased to 23:30. Then you would need only 9.62 ratio, which is more manageable and can be achieved off 80 miles a week. With 23:00 things look a whole lot better, as you only need 9.82 ratio, which can be achieved off 60 miles a week.

So the first thing I would do after you recover from this marathon is test your 5 K speed. You might have improved it to 23:30 already or maybe even more. This will tell you to what extent you need to worry about improving your 5 K.

Regardless of the 5 K, you will need to maintain high mileage and do long tempo runs to improve the aerobic base and fuel storage.

From Cookielover on Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 20:21:36 from 97.81.82.211

Sasha - Wow! Thanks for doing this. I know that qualifying for Boston is still a long shot, but it is nice to know that it is possible. When do you recommend that I should run my next 5K? Is a couple of weeks too soon or is that really a personal choice as to how one is feeling? I was looking at the local events and there are a bunch of them over the next couple of months. I was just going to walk for the next few days to keep my legs loose and stretched and was planning on going for a short run by the end of the week.

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 16:41:20 from 192.168.1.1

Jennifer - I would wait about a month.

From Walter on Mon, Dec 28, 2009 at 18:17:21 from 24.10.169.110

Way to go Jen! It feels so good to PR and to exceed your expectations!

From Lyman on Thu, Dec 31, 2009 at 16:06:54 from 170.135.241.45

WOW! Great race. Way to smash you previous PR. Heres to hoping 2010 has more PR smashing races for you! Cheers.

From Cookielover on Fri, Jan 01, 2010 at 13:17:02 from 97.81.82.211

Sasha - Thanks. I have already checked the calendar and should be able to race by the end of January.

Walter and Lyman - Thank you so much! I am still on a bit of a high from that race. Hopefully 2010 will be a year for PR's for all of us!

From MichelleL on Tue, Jan 05, 2010 at 09:48:26 from 67.41.235.37

Congratulations on the huge pr. I agree with Sasha to wait a month for the 5k. BQ isn't a long shot, but an attainable goal. Now that you've dropped 30 min and can taste the BQ, just keep that fire alive to fuel the daily grind of consistent training. Congratulations again on your race.

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