#outerbanksmarathon

Happy with a 2:48:42 and age group win today at #OuterBanksMarathon. Not a PR, but close. And a solid #BostonMarathon qualifier for 2019. Not bad, #NorthCarolina. (at Outer Banks Marathon)

Well I took what I could get. The goal was sub-90 but i had a feeling early it just wasn't going to happen. I felt like I was laboring even at around 4 miles and just couldn't get my pace down to where it needed to be. The bridge was the knockout blow, dealing me a 7:18 10th mile. At that point I stopped worrying about the goal and told myself to just race for today. I focused on potential age group competitors and on finishing strong. With a mile to go I threw caution to the wind. Maybe I placed in the age group. I'll find out in about an hour or so.

Finally OBX weekend is here, and it is fantastic as always. I can't help it, I love this little part of the world. But I'm also here to race, and race big. I'm running the half marathon here tomorrow and hoping to break 90 minutes. I've done it before, but not since 2010, when I set my PR of 1:29:03. I think everything is in place to do it. The key will be to start easy, maybe around 7:00/mile but work down to the 6:50 pace I need to hit. Then in the final 5k, hopefully I will drop the hammer. This morning I just jogged with lynnucla while she ran the Buccaneer 5k. It was an interesting course, going through a neighborhood then a pine forest trail before turning around. And she ran well, so it all made for a great morning run. So it's been a great weekend so far. :)

It was nice to get outside again despite the high winds, I have to admit, after two days of treadmill sweatfests. I was working from home today so at around 1:30 I put the laptop to sleep and headed out for a trot in the neighborhood. At the end, threw in 6x100 striders just to turn the legs over a bit. Marine Corps Marathon is now only 3 days away so this was probably my final time running before then. As my readers know, I'm not "running" the marathon on Sunday; I'm coaching Team in Training's runners. I'll be positioned at Hains Point for hours helping our participants get through that piece of the course. If you're running MCM, look for a guy in a green shirt and neon calf sleeves when you're on Hains Point. That would be me. How many miles I will actually run at MCM is a mystery but I suspect it will be well over 26.2 miles, albeit at a pretty casual pace. My own target race, the half at Outer Banks, is in two weeks so Sunday will essentially be just a final (really) long run. I'll focus on tapering for OBX after Sunday...I've got two weeks and my normal HM taper is about 10 days. So I think it's manageable. In the meantime it's all about getting my rest and being ready to get my runners through on Sunday, when it's all about them.

It's been a while since I've been able to slip out of the office for a midday run. So today was a bonus. It doesn't hurt any that fall temperatures around lunchtime were AWESOME, either! I went for 7 on the W&OD...mile warmup, then 5 at tempo and finally a cooldown mile. Check out those splits for the 5. I was locked in, all right. This will be a heavy week for me, culminating with a massive number of miles while coaching at Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday. That will end the Team in Training cycle and my fall coaching commitment with TNT. It will also begin my taper towards Outer Banks and the half marathon on 11/9. Just like that, the peak of the fall running season is here. And I feel very ready.