Running Thunder Road

I've decided to toe the line at Charlotte's Thunder Road Marathon. I suppose the "official" announcement came via the Charlotte Running Club's blog. In the interview I answer some of the reasons why I've chosen to try and defend the title. Instead of repeating those reasons here, I'll instead talk about my goals.

I want to run fast. How fast? I'd be happy with a time between 2:22 and 2:24. That means I'm going to have to hit the half a bit out of the comfort zone, something that I haven't really done in my previous three marathons. I would like to be between 71:30 and 72:00 on the day, but I just ran the first half of the course and realize it's hillier than I remembered. I still think it can be done. However, take a quick look at this ugly marathon mile pace chart. To reach my halfway goal, I'll have to average 5:27 to 5:30 miles. We'll see what happens.

If I can run between 2:22 and 2:24 feeling somewhat composed, I'll have to confidence to try shooting for the Olympic Trials time of 2:19:00. So actually 2:18:59. That's 5:18 mile pace which would put you at 53:00 (10 miles), 69:29 (13.1), 1:46:00 (20 miles). Those are all some stout splits that would have me walking by the finish line.