My New Jersey Marathon Goals.

Two sleeps 'til Jersey!

I'm gunning for a good night of sleep tonight, because I highly doubt I'll sleep much on Saturday. Nerves, nerves, nerves.

Speaking of nerves . . .

I have my marathon goals all laid out. There have been days when I've thought, "I've got some nerve thinking I can run 26.2 miles at an aggressive pace." But then, there have been just as many days when I've thought, "I've got this."

I sure hope I do . . . 


Anyway, for those of you who are interested, here are my goals for the New Jersey Marathon:


My "If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough" A goal:

• 3:44:59 or better

My "Liberate your inner awesome" B goal: 

• sub-4 hours

My "I have it within me right now" C goal: 

• A PR (under 4:12:48)

I really believe that I can achieve my A goal. If everything lines-up perfectly and goes according to plan, I should be able to get that 3:45.

Why do I think I can run 3:45? Well, for starters, before I set my goal, I put a bunch of my recent race times into the McMillan calculator and it spit out equivalent marathon times that ranged from 3:36 to 3:48. When I averaged all of the times out, I came up with 3:43, so I set my goal as 3:45.

Then I developed a training plan to get me there. I followed my plan, for the most part, and ran strong, quality workouts over the course of 16 weeks. I ran two 18-milers, two 20-milers and one 22-miler -- so I know I have the endurance to carry me through 26.2. I ran a bunch of 2-mile repeats at just under marathon pace -- so I'm familiar and comfortable with my race pace. I ran a strong 11 mile race in February in 1:29:50 (8:10 pace) and, more recently, a fast 4 mile race in 29:05 (7:17 pace) -- so I know my legs have the speed they need.

I just need to go out there and do it.

Will I be devastated if I don't run 3:45? Nope. I won't. Seriously. Not lying at all.

Although I am sure I will be disappointed, I will not be sad or angry or devastated. I am going in to this race knowing that I have put in the work. I set an ambitious goal that, at the beginning of this training cycle, I felt I could achieve -- IF I worked hard. And I did.

If I miss my A goal, I'll live. I'll be angry if I don't give 100% of what I have to give but, barring that, I'll be happy to achieve my B or C goals.

Source: oiselle.com via Felice on Pinterest

But, of course, I'm going there to get my 3:45. I trained for it. I can run it. As I said earlier, I just need to go out there and do it.

If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough.


A 3:45 marathon scares me. It's big.

I'm ready.

***Thanks for all of your well wishes over the past few weeks, especially this last one. I've really appreciated the encouraging comments!***

Have a great weekend, everyone!

~ Felice