Goals for Atlantic City Half Marathon

My long runs are scheduled for Saturdays.  For some reason I always run long on Saturday and rest on Sunday.  Most plans have you run long on Sunday.  I go my own way.  I'm crazy like that.

This past Saturday I didn't get my long run in.  I woke up with the start of a migraine.  I took some aspirin (or some such) and grabbed a wash cloth, soaked it in cold water, and sat with it on my eyes.  About 45 minutes later I felt better.  Head didn't hurt as badly, but at this point I wasn't into running.  I was a tad bit afraid the migraine would come back with the pounding of my feet on the sidewalk and by the time I started feeling better it seemed too late to go out with what we had planned.

So, Sunday run it is!  Until I woke up about 11:15 a.m.  I apparently slept way too long after staying up until about 1:00 a.m. to watch the Olympics.  Olympic junkie here.  I freely admit it.  So, no run on Sunday for me either.

Woke up this morning and said "get your ass out and run!"  I had 4 miles on the agenda, so I knew it wouldn't take me forever.  I just had to go out and run it.  And I did.  I took a few sports beans with caffeine before leaving.  Then I made a conscious decision to run really slow.  The temperature was about 76 went I left and it was humid.  Last outside run had me start out too fast and I felt dead about 20 minutes into a 30 minute run.  Today?  Much better.  The beans helped and just slowing things down in the heat helped.  I managed my entire 4 mile run with the energy to have added another mile or two at the end.  Happy about that.  And happy I missed the pouring rain by the closing of my car door.  I shut the door and it started to rain.  Phew!

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Alright, alright.  Here's where I talk about what goal I have set for the AC Half Marathon.  I had a goal for this race before I ran Shamrock in March.  I wanted to run it in under 3 hours.  I ran the Disney Princess Half Marathon in 3:21:11 and I ran Philly in 3:16:43.  Shamrock was to be somewhere between 3:05:00 and 3:10:00.  And then I did something I didn't expect.  I smashed my goal for Shamrock coming in at 2:51:15.  Ummmmm....what the hell???  So, I far exceeded my Shamrock goal and beat my Atlantic City Half Marathon goal all at one time.  Crap.

So, when I finished Shamrock I figured out my pace time ~ 13:04.  So close to a 12:something mile.  That's when I decided I wanted to keep a 12:-- pace for Atlantic City.  Then I did some more math and saw I if I keep up that pace I can hit a 2:50:00.  That will give me a PR for the race and let me hit two goals - running under a 13 minute mile and beat my time from Shamrock.

I know these don't sound like big goals.  They are somewhat small, but I made such huge strides at Shamrock that I don't think I can top that type of PR.  I want something attainable.  Something that I think I can reach.  Something I think my training will prepare me for. 

There you have it. My AC Half Marathon goals: 12:59 pace and a 2:50:00 finish time.  Bring it on!