Lillywhite Running: Training for Grandma's Marathon (BQ?)

Written by Owen:

I'm currently training for Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota on June 16th. Tomorrow is my last 20 miler followed by three weeks of tapering. I've hit the roads harder than ever since the Big Sur Marathon back in April. The reason for that is that I want to take a crack at qualifying for Boston.

My PR is 3:21:58 at the Myrtle Beach Marathon back in February. My qualifying standard for Boston is 3:10. To some that may not sound like a big difference, but it is HUGE. I pushed myself really hard at Myrtle Beach, which is a pancake flat marathon. I had trained pretty hard, and still hit the wall hard at mile 24, slowing by almost a minute per mile on the last two miles. My average pace was 7:42. In order to qualify for Boston at Grandma's, I'll have to run an average pace of 7:15 on a not as flat course.

Myrtle Beach Course Profile

Grandma's Course Profile

I feel really good, and my training has gone wonderfully since Big Sur. My running log as I write this says I've ran 71 miles in the last 7 days; 218 in the last 30; and 2,001 in the last 365! Today's 10 mile training run was at an average pace of 7:40 on severe hills.

All of that sounds like I can do it, it feels like I can do it, but the thought of running 26.2 miles at 7:15 is scary. My fear is that I'll try... and bonk at mile 16 and have 10 miles of misery. I really enjoy enjoying marathons. I don't want misery.

As a backup plan, I made a custom pace tattoo on Taz Running that has both paces (beat my PR, and qualify for Boston). The column that looks like 14/41 means 7:14/7:41, the pace for that mile (to save room).

That way if I get out there and just don't think I can do it, I can always just try to PR.