I gotta feeling
Detroit Marathon
State #20
BOSTON QUALIFIER
3:40:32
It’s finally done! I’m going to Boston. 20 states completed from Oct 2005 to Oct 2010, improved by 1hr and 7minutes since the very first one. Just over a year ago I was fantasizing over breaking 4 hours. A year and a day prior to qualifying for Boston, I ran in Indiana, and broke 4 hours by a landslide and that set the idea/pace for Boston. 7 marathons (including Indiana) and 1 ultra marathon later…I finally did it. With those 8 races, 3 of them were completed in the last 8 weeks. My weekend long runs looked like this: 26.2, 10, 31.2, 12, 20, 10, 26.2.
The previous 7 weekend runs made me stronger, made me confident and ready to take on Boston with that last 26.2; High altitudes, mountains, ultra distances, trails, and on the 20 miler, a strong kick-it last mile at 7:31. I was ready. Maybe I was always physically ready, but the past 7 weeks, and the help of my friends made me mentally ready.
Mentioning a few (but not the only) that were with me (in spirit) on my run:
As I spent some extra time in the past few weeks with Caitlin in the ACS office helping get ready for the Chicago Marathon, she said to me “I’ve gotta feeling, Tara- this is it- Detroit is your run!” She was so positive in her words, I decided to believe her and took her words with me.
At the ACS team dinner, Kristin spoke once again. Her words and her actions ALWAYS inspire me. She is DetermiNation defined. She never says "I can’t” even with the most horrific obstacles put in her way.
Then there is Emily. She doesn’t like running, which is great since her cancer took her ability to run. You would never know she has a cancer survivor story because of her attitude. Like Kristin, she is left with the aftermath of killing cancer. She doesn’t baby herself and she doesn’t baby others. There is something about her spirits - I see it in her expectations for herself and her expectations for others: if you set a goal, you do it no excuses- just keep your eye on the target.
Then there is Alison- what can I say- she thinks I'm amazing just the way I am. ;) So in the back of my mind, I knew if I didn’t get Boston- That it’s okay. Her words, heart and spirit remind me to not put so much pressure on myself and enjoy it.
Now I have so many more friends that I could mention, and I will mention more in my story below as the story unfolds. But I wanted to showcase these 4 girls because they have something in common which inspire me for my new goal noted at the end of this. They are all the faces of Team DetermiNation with American Cancer Society.
The week before the race was the Chicago marathon. I was heavily involved with volunteer work from 4:15am until about 2pm on Sunday with the race. I planned on getting a good night sleep. But then Jen, sent me an e-mail just saying she really wanted to go out but both Andrea and I were busy- she wasn’t asking me to go out, she was just using me as a sounding board laying out her thoughts (as we do with friends). The thing is, is I know what it’s like when you just want to go out, have a few drinks and dance. So when she complained, I understood and I couldn’t let her stay in with the itch to go out (because I mean, come on- when we go out we always have fun- and who can turn down dancing?). So…I decided to sleep Saturday from 6pm until almost 10pm. Then we went out which meant I got home at 3am and was ready to volunteer by 4:15 am with a 15 minute nap in between. The day of volunteering went off so well I got this thought: If I qualify for Boston, I’m going to drunk run Vegas! How’s that for a little extra motivation?
Now let’s dive into Detroit. As I said, Caitlin had inserted confidence in me.. So, I vocalized that I was focused on Boston. I knew for 2011 Boston, it was kind of my last chance! This was a Bank of America sponsored race, and Kelly was my Hostess from the Mostest. Since I wasn’t in the Troy office on a regular basis, she made sure I was set up and in the loop with all the fun Bank of America Events. She also told me she had a feeling that this was the one for Boston. More positive energy!
Again, Kelly being the hostess with the mostest, made sure I got my other workouts in while staying in Detroit. We went to her gym before work on Friday and went to a spin class. I snapped at the spin instructor when he was going around the room increasing everyone’s resistance on the bike. Sorry to snap Buddy, but I had Boston on my mind- I wasn’t about to have a super killer workout 2 days before my race. On Saturday, Kelly and I ran and then went for a swim. I loved having her as a workout partner! She’s up for anything :)
Sunday morning we woke up at 4am, leaving at 5am. As we got in the car to drive to downtown Detroit, one of my and Alison’s song of the moment came on. I focused certain words to change it from the expectations of a man to the expectations of my legs… ‘I want you to take it like a thief in the night (talking about BQ) hold me like a pillow make me feel alright…want you to make me feel like I’m the only girl in the world like I’m the only one that’s in command….(changing words: take me for a run run, oh Boston qualify-I, let me make you fast fast, make my stride so right! ). Hearing any of our special songs is always a great way to take off to the marathon. Coincidentally, this was the song that was on when I finished the race. I have to change the words too much to make it the title of this write up. So I figured I would at least mention it :)
Bank of America had the Hard Rock Café as their race headquarters. This meant all BAC employees that signed up, got free food pre and post race, clean bathrooms, a warm place to hang out and a better place to keep your stuff, rather than gear check. Only 10 people there were running the whole marathon. Most of everyone were relay racers. Kelly had a team of 5 people. She ran the leg that went from Canada back into the US.
Around 6:40 I walked to the start with two of the guys Kelly introduced me to that were on her relay team. I thought the race started at 7:15 (I swore I read that somewhere), but around 6:54, they were singing the national anthem, and I thought- why so early? Oh- it was time to line up (real start was 7:00). SO I had to shuffle through to my race Coral- D (I was by L when they were singing). I managed to make it there with time to spare.
The plan was to run the first 3 miles as a warm up. I thought this warm up would be about 9 minute miles. They turned out to be 8:45s but that was close enough since it felt so easy. It was dark, but the streets were well lit and I wasn’t tripping over people. We made quite a few turns as you could see people running up the Ambassador Bridge. The Bridge is under construction so as we were climbing, we had a very narrow space to run, which meant you weren’t running your pace- you were running the pace of the person in front of you. Now, not to brag, but after experiencing mountain marathons, the Ambassador bridge- at mile 3- was easy. I got a little nervous as I was already having some circulation issues with my shoes/left foot around mile 4. I thought- oh boy, this is going to be a long run. But then I just thought about Kristin. She runs with real issues and she does it like a champ. Then there is Emily, she wouldn’t make excuses. So I better push all excuses out of my mind right now!
The cramps started moving up the leg …so early on. I used the command Anne told me to use when feeling it: “Not now legs. You can be as sore as you want later- but not now.” The issues went away and by mile 6 (the first relay exchange where I heard Kelly call out my name), I was all warmed up and ready to run! My pace fell into an 8:04 to 8:10 comfortably. As fast as we made our way into Canada, we were leaving. I thought “man, already? That means I have to run in the same country for the rest of the race!”
Around mile 6 is when I took my first Gu. This was new; I usually don’t take any until 9 or 10. With David visiting Chicago the week before, I not only had his stern texts about Nutrition but I got the stern lecture in person- I knew I had to listen to him, because if I didn’t qualify and didn’t listen to him, he would be able to blame it on my nutrition and I had no excuses that I didn’t get the texts- he would have had every right to say ‘I told you so.’ So, I had a Gu at mile 6 (e-gel), 13 (Vanilla with Caffeine), 17 (Roctane) and 22 (Roctane), I also took electrolyte pills at miles 10 and 20.
The start of mile 7 was on the Canada side of the tunnel. We had a nice decline and the tunnel was hot. People were very quiet when we first made our way in the tunnel so I decided to do what would seem normal to my runners, hoping those in the btunnel would appreciate it: I shouted “Can I get a WHOO WHOO” and it echoed pretty loud. At first I thought I failed miserably with no response. Then…like magic, a few gave the return ‘whoo whoos” and people started to make more noise. …much better tunnel…much better! Also while in the tunnel, I passed the guy who runs with his son in the wheel chair-jogger I think this is the first race I’ve seen him at. We popped out at mile 8 as we were running up and out of the tunnel.
My miles all kept coming in at sub 8:10s. When I hit mile 13 I felt like I was flying, I was feeling REAL strong. Matt, the new Director in the Chicago DetermiNation office made a comment that it’s usually around mile 15 where you know if you blew your goal (or made it?). I around then I started to slow down a bit but with the sub 8:10s I was doing before then, I figured it was alright to slow to 8:15s. I didn’t want to slow down too much, because it’s like once you start slowing a bit- you start to completely slip... And this time, I wasn’t having that!
I knew I was pushing it, and if I was working this hard now, I didn’t want to have to try all over again, so this was it- Boston was happening here- it just was. I thought about my extra motivation. I started envisioning Vegas. My plans had not yet been confirmed, and I started to get a new idea for Vegas. I thought if I could run it drunk- it would be a perfect girls weekend/reunion for Jen, Tiffany, Amanda and I- it’s where we all came together thanks to Jen’s bachelorette party so why not meet up in Vegas again? Then I thought of Alison and my other most recent song. And I thought- that’s my Vegas song... ‘Why so serious? So raise your glass if you are wrong in all the right ways... If you’re too school for cool, and you’re treated like a fool you can choose to let it go we can always party on our own” I knew that’s what Vegas needed to be- wrong in all the right ways, not serious, just fun. The only way to do that was to keep pushing myself at Detroit.
I wasn’t looking at my overall time, but thought I should have about an hour left when I hit the 20 mile marker. Unfortunately, I only had 53 minutes to still qualify, which is playing with fire. I was a little frustrated because I didn’t understand how that could be when I was checking almost all my splits and I was very well under the 8:26 average I needed for Boston. Of course- this didn’t include the extra mileage you put in when you don’t run the shortest distance on the course- and have to weave at water stations and any other time around people (I finished with somewhere around .3 extra miles).
I almost let my time at the 20 get me down, but I thought- what’s six more miles of this? There is no ‘almost’, and there is no giving up- you just have to push.
I started running 8:45s and felt like I couldn’t go any faster. Mile 24 had a lot of turns and twists through a park it felt like the longest mile ever. As I approached the 25th mile marker, we were going up a hill. I looked at my watch. I had 12 minutes to get to that finish. That’s now a 10 minute mile. I did what I shouldn’t have done, but I did it anyway- I walked for maybe 15 seconds. I stretched my legs as I made it up that hill. Sometimes, when I stop and start back up again- I can get some speed back in my legs, and so I decided not to let myself cramp up the hill and maybe pick the legs up for a strong finish at the end. I made the final turn that was mile 26 with .2 left. Now, I have only ended one marathon really sick at the finish and that was Cincinnati. I thought I was going to lose it in those final .2miles of this race. I think it was the Boston nerves but I felt like I could either pee in my pants or puke …luckily I didn’t do either of those things. Rather, I finished with my arms kind of in the air- and it hit me…I DID IT….well…if my watch was right. For the next 2 hours, I was on edge fearing, maybe I didn’t really qualify, maybe something went wrong on my watch and I missed it by seconds.
When I crossed the finish I walked through all the finishers’ fun stuff. I made my way back to the Hard Rock, where Kelly walked in minutes after me all excited for me. She saw me finish and knew I had it. She said the 3:35 group passed maybe 2 minutes before me, and she never saw the 3:40 group. But, I was still worried. Luckily, Caitlin was tracking me- she didn’t get the updates until a good hour after the race, but she finally called me to confirm, I did qualify like my watch said.
I have been trying to qualify for quite some time now. I can’t tell you what the right way is or how to go about doing it. I just know on this day, for me, it was to just run it fast, and not let it slow until the goal was in sight. I think because I’ve been trying for so long, I’m still in shock I qualified. On top of qualifying, I get to go to Vegas and just have fun.
My friends had a feeling, and this time, I believed their feeling- I had a feeling- that this was it. I hung onto that feeling and told myself not to give up. I might have come close to that cut off, but that’s because it’s supposed to be a difficult goal.
The WSJ recently posted an article pretty much saying the women’s times are too easy where the race is filling up too fast. I do like the idea of being challenged a little more, and am always about equality, but with lots of thought on this I decided the gap between men and women is fair. Women aren’t built l like men- we don’t have the amounts of testosterone to build our muscle and be in the same athletic shape as men. Women are more emotional in nature. Maybe we turn that emotion into passion and push harder to obtain the difficult goal because the goal IS difficult as is. So great, if Boston Qualifying times are changed because Women are being empowered to push their limits and too many are qualifying – great- we will just keep pushing our limits to what you give us and make the goal.
As for 2011 I have a big year ahead of me. I’m going to Boston which has been a WIP for the longest time. Then I’m doing the Wisconsin Ironman which will consume most of my life in 2011. I do plan to still run a few marathons in the spring when training for the ironman is somewhat manageable. I have decided, with all these big races, it’s time to go back to raising some money for American Cancer Society. I’ve noted Caitlin, Kristin, Emily and Alison above who are such inspirational people. Early on I said I’d raise money for ACS for my Ironman, but because of how I’ve been inspired; I want to do something else/something more. My goal for 2011 will be something like this: I want to raise $11 for every mile I race- whether it be run, bike or swim. If I do 1 Olympic tri, 1 half ironman, 1 ironman and 4 marathons, that puts me around $3900 to raise. . The more I race, the more you give- it’s that simple :)
Detroit Marathon
State #20
BOSTON QUALIFIER
3:40:32
It’s finally done! I’m going to Boston. 20 states completed from Oct 2005 to Oct 2010, improved by 1hr and 7minutes since the very first one. Just over a year ago I was fantasizing over breaking 4 hours. A year and a day prior to qualifying for Boston, I ran in Indiana, and broke 4 hours by a landslide and that set the idea/pace for Boston. 7 marathons (including Indiana) and 1 ultra marathon later…I finally did it. With those 8 races, 3 of them were completed in the last 8 weeks. My weekend long runs looked like this: 26.2, 10, 31.2, 12, 20, 10, 26.2.
The previous 7 weekend runs made me stronger, made me confident and ready to take on Boston with that last 26.2; High altitudes, mountains, ultra distances, trails, and on the 20 miler, a strong kick-it last mile at 7:31. I was ready. Maybe I was always physically ready, but the past 7 weeks, and the help of my friends made me mentally ready.
Mentioning a few (but not the only) that were with me (in spirit) on my run:
As I spent some extra time in the past few weeks with Caitlin in the ACS office helping get ready for the Chicago Marathon, she said to me “I’ve gotta feeling, Tara- this is it- Detroit is your run!” She was so positive in her words, I decided to believe her and took her words with me.
At the ACS team dinner, Kristin spoke once again. Her words and her actions ALWAYS inspire me. She is DetermiNation defined. She never says "I can’t” even with the most horrific obstacles put in her way.
Then there is Emily. She doesn’t like running, which is great since her cancer took her ability to run. You would never know she has a cancer survivor story because of her attitude. Like Kristin, she is left with the aftermath of killing cancer. She doesn’t baby herself and she doesn’t baby others. There is something about her spirits - I see it in her expectations for herself and her expectations for others: if you set a goal, you do it no excuses- just keep your eye on the target.
Then there is Alison- what can I say- she thinks I'm amazing just the way I am. ;) So in the back of my mind, I knew if I didn’t get Boston- That it’s okay. Her words, heart and spirit remind me to not put so much pressure on myself and enjoy it.
Now I have so many more friends that I could mention, and I will mention more in my story below as the story unfolds. But I wanted to showcase these 4 girls because they have something in common which inspire me for my new goal noted at the end of this. They are all the faces of Team DetermiNation with American Cancer Society.
The week before the race was the Chicago marathon. I was heavily involved with volunteer work from 4:15am until about 2pm on Sunday with the race. I planned on getting a good night sleep. But then Jen, sent me an e-mail just saying she really wanted to go out but both Andrea and I were busy- she wasn’t asking me to go out, she was just using me as a sounding board laying out her thoughts (as we do with friends). The thing is, is I know what it’s like when you just want to go out, have a few drinks and dance. So when she complained, I understood and I couldn’t let her stay in with the itch to go out (because I mean, come on- when we go out we always have fun- and who can turn down dancing?). So…I decided to sleep Saturday from 6pm until almost 10pm. Then we went out which meant I got home at 3am and was ready to volunteer by 4:15 am with a 15 minute nap in between. The day of volunteering went off so well I got this thought: If I qualify for Boston, I’m going to drunk run Vegas! How’s that for a little extra motivation?
Now let’s dive into Detroit. As I said, Caitlin had inserted confidence in me.. So, I vocalized that I was focused on Boston. I knew for 2011 Boston, it was kind of my last chance! This was a Bank of America sponsored race, and Kelly was my Hostess from the Mostest. Since I wasn’t in the Troy office on a regular basis, she made sure I was set up and in the loop with all the fun Bank of America Events. She also told me she had a feeling that this was the one for Boston. More positive energy!
Again, Kelly being the hostess with the mostest, made sure I got my other workouts in while staying in Detroit. We went to her gym before work on Friday and went to a spin class. I snapped at the spin instructor when he was going around the room increasing everyone’s resistance on the bike. Sorry to snap Buddy, but I had Boston on my mind- I wasn’t about to have a super killer workout 2 days before my race. On Saturday, Kelly and I ran and then went for a swim. I loved having her as a workout partner! She’s up for anything :)
Sunday morning we woke up at 4am, leaving at 5am. As we got in the car to drive to downtown Detroit, one of my and Alison’s song of the moment came on. I focused certain words to change it from the expectations of a man to the expectations of my legs… ‘I want you to take it like a thief in the night (talking about BQ) hold me like a pillow make me feel alright…want you to make me feel like I’m the only girl in the world like I’m the only one that’s in command….(changing words: take me for a run run, oh Boston qualify-I, let me make you fast fast, make my stride so right! ). Hearing any of our special songs is always a great way to take off to the marathon. Coincidentally, this was the song that was on when I finished the race. I have to change the words too much to make it the title of this write up. So I figured I would at least mention it :)
Bank of America had the Hard Rock Café as their race headquarters. This meant all BAC employees that signed up, got free food pre and post race, clean bathrooms, a warm place to hang out and a better place to keep your stuff, rather than gear check. Only 10 people there were running the whole marathon. Most of everyone were relay racers. Kelly had a team of 5 people. She ran the leg that went from Canada back into the US.
Around 6:40 I walked to the start with two of the guys Kelly introduced me to that were on her relay team. I thought the race started at 7:15 (I swore I read that somewhere), but around 6:54, they were singing the national anthem, and I thought- why so early? Oh- it was time to line up (real start was 7:00). SO I had to shuffle through to my race Coral- D (I was by L when they were singing). I managed to make it there with time to spare.
The plan was to run the first 3 miles as a warm up. I thought this warm up would be about 9 minute miles. They turned out to be 8:45s but that was close enough since it felt so easy. It was dark, but the streets were well lit and I wasn’t tripping over people. We made quite a few turns as you could see people running up the Ambassador Bridge. The Bridge is under construction so as we were climbing, we had a very narrow space to run, which meant you weren’t running your pace- you were running the pace of the person in front of you. Now, not to brag, but after experiencing mountain marathons, the Ambassador bridge- at mile 3- was easy. I got a little nervous as I was already having some circulation issues with my shoes/left foot around mile 4. I thought- oh boy, this is going to be a long run. But then I just thought about Kristin. She runs with real issues and she does it like a champ. Then there is Emily, she wouldn’t make excuses. So I better push all excuses out of my mind right now!
The cramps started moving up the leg …so early on. I used the command Anne told me to use when feeling it: “Not now legs. You can be as sore as you want later- but not now.” The issues went away and by mile 6 (the first relay exchange where I heard Kelly call out my name), I was all warmed up and ready to run! My pace fell into an 8:04 to 8:10 comfortably. As fast as we made our way into Canada, we were leaving. I thought “man, already? That means I have to run in the same country for the rest of the race!”
Around mile 6 is when I took my first Gu. This was new; I usually don’t take any until 9 or 10. With David visiting Chicago the week before, I not only had his stern texts about Nutrition but I got the stern lecture in person- I knew I had to listen to him, because if I didn’t qualify and didn’t listen to him, he would be able to blame it on my nutrition and I had no excuses that I didn’t get the texts- he would have had every right to say ‘I told you so.’ So, I had a Gu at mile 6 (e-gel), 13 (Vanilla with Caffeine), 17 (Roctane) and 22 (Roctane), I also took electrolyte pills at miles 10 and 20.
The start of mile 7 was on the Canada side of the tunnel. We had a nice decline and the tunnel was hot. People were very quiet when we first made our way in the tunnel so I decided to do what would seem normal to my runners, hoping those in the btunnel would appreciate it: I shouted “Can I get a WHOO WHOO” and it echoed pretty loud. At first I thought I failed miserably with no response. Then…like magic, a few gave the return ‘whoo whoos” and people started to make more noise. …much better tunnel…much better! Also while in the tunnel, I passed the guy who runs with his son in the wheel chair-jogger I think this is the first race I’ve seen him at. We popped out at mile 8 as we were running up and out of the tunnel.
My miles all kept coming in at sub 8:10s. When I hit mile 13 I felt like I was flying, I was feeling REAL strong. Matt, the new Director in the Chicago DetermiNation office made a comment that it’s usually around mile 15 where you know if you blew your goal (or made it?). I around then I started to slow down a bit but with the sub 8:10s I was doing before then, I figured it was alright to slow to 8:15s. I didn’t want to slow down too much, because it’s like once you start slowing a bit- you start to completely slip... And this time, I wasn’t having that!
I knew I was pushing it, and if I was working this hard now, I didn’t want to have to try all over again, so this was it- Boston was happening here- it just was. I thought about my extra motivation. I started envisioning Vegas. My plans had not yet been confirmed, and I started to get a new idea for Vegas. I thought if I could run it drunk- it would be a perfect girls weekend/reunion for Jen, Tiffany, Amanda and I- it’s where we all came together thanks to Jen’s bachelorette party so why not meet up in Vegas again? Then I thought of Alison and my other most recent song. And I thought- that’s my Vegas song... ‘Why so serious? So raise your glass if you are wrong in all the right ways... If you’re too school for cool, and you’re treated like a fool you can choose to let it go we can always party on our own” I knew that’s what Vegas needed to be- wrong in all the right ways, not serious, just fun. The only way to do that was to keep pushing myself at Detroit.
I wasn’t looking at my overall time, but thought I should have about an hour left when I hit the 20 mile marker. Unfortunately, I only had 53 minutes to still qualify, which is playing with fire. I was a little frustrated because I didn’t understand how that could be when I was checking almost all my splits and I was very well under the 8:26 average I needed for Boston. Of course- this didn’t include the extra mileage you put in when you don’t run the shortest distance on the course- and have to weave at water stations and any other time around people (I finished with somewhere around .3 extra miles).
I almost let my time at the 20 get me down, but I thought- what’s six more miles of this? There is no ‘almost’, and there is no giving up- you just have to push.
I started running 8:45s and felt like I couldn’t go any faster. Mile 24 had a lot of turns and twists through a park it felt like the longest mile ever. As I approached the 25th mile marker, we were going up a hill. I looked at my watch. I had 12 minutes to get to that finish. That’s now a 10 minute mile. I did what I shouldn’t have done, but I did it anyway- I walked for maybe 15 seconds. I stretched my legs as I made it up that hill. Sometimes, when I stop and start back up again- I can get some speed back in my legs, and so I decided not to let myself cramp up the hill and maybe pick the legs up for a strong finish at the end. I made the final turn that was mile 26 with .2 left. Now, I have only ended one marathon really sick at the finish and that was Cincinnati. I thought I was going to lose it in those final .2miles of this race. I think it was the Boston nerves but I felt like I could either pee in my pants or puke …luckily I didn’t do either of those things. Rather, I finished with my arms kind of in the air- and it hit me…I DID IT….well…if my watch was right. For the next 2 hours, I was on edge fearing, maybe I didn’t really qualify, maybe something went wrong on my watch and I missed it by seconds.
When I crossed the finish I walked through all the finishers’ fun stuff. I made my way back to the Hard Rock, where Kelly walked in minutes after me all excited for me. She saw me finish and knew I had it. She said the 3:35 group passed maybe 2 minutes before me, and she never saw the 3:40 group. But, I was still worried. Luckily, Caitlin was tracking me- she didn’t get the updates until a good hour after the race, but she finally called me to confirm, I did qualify like my watch said.
I have been trying to qualify for quite some time now. I can’t tell you what the right way is or how to go about doing it. I just know on this day, for me, it was to just run it fast, and not let it slow until the goal was in sight. I think because I’ve been trying for so long, I’m still in shock I qualified. On top of qualifying, I get to go to Vegas and just have fun.
My friends had a feeling, and this time, I believed their feeling- I had a feeling- that this was it. I hung onto that feeling and told myself not to give up. I might have come close to that cut off, but that’s because it’s supposed to be a difficult goal.
The WSJ recently posted an article pretty much saying the women’s times are too easy where the race is filling up too fast. I do like the idea of being challenged a little more, and am always about equality, but with lots of thought on this I decided the gap between men and women is fair. Women aren’t built l like men- we don’t have the amounts of testosterone to build our muscle and be in the same athletic shape as men. Women are more emotional in nature. Maybe we turn that emotion into passion and push harder to obtain the difficult goal because the goal IS difficult as is. So great, if Boston Qualifying times are changed because Women are being empowered to push their limits and too many are qualifying – great- we will just keep pushing our limits to what you give us and make the goal.
As for 2011 I have a big year ahead of me. I’m going to Boston which has been a WIP for the longest time. Then I’m doing the Wisconsin Ironman which will consume most of my life in 2011. I do plan to still run a few marathons in the spring when training for the ironman is somewhat manageable. I have decided, with all these big races, it’s time to go back to raising some money for American Cancer Society. I’ve noted Caitlin, Kristin, Emily and Alison above who are such inspirational people. Early on I said I’d raise money for ACS for my Ironman, but because of how I’ve been inspired; I want to do something else/something more. My goal for 2011 will be something like this: I want to raise $11 for every mile I race- whether it be run, bike or swim. If I do 1 Olympic tri, 1 half ironman, 1 ironman and 4 marathons, that puts me around $3900 to raise. . The more I race, the more you give- it’s that simple :)
