I will hit the road(s) on Saturday, March 15, 2014. I have yet to set a start time, though you can be assured that it will be early morning so that there is plenty of time for cake and beer (and other nourishment, surely) in the evening. My best guess as of now is that I will run the distance in about 8 hours.
Yes.
That is a V E R Y slow.
But.
Forty miles (for this old gal) is V E R Y long.
Obviously my pace will depend greatly on many factors, not least of which is my physical (and mental) health on the day, the weather, and the route that I choose to run.
Physically, I am counting my long, slow training runs to get me ready for the day. But I have a tendency to pace myself too fast on my long runs when I train for marathons and I imagine slowing down even more for this run will be challenging. However, when I look at my proposed training schedule and see that on one tough week I'll be running 24 miles on Saturday followed by 8 on Sunday. Yikes. Slow will like feel juuuust fine for those! I guess, then, the struggle will be to find the time to do these long runs at the right pace. I can kiss the luxury of 7 AM weekend wake ups good bye for the foreseeable future. Officially, the training starts November 11, so I guess I do have a couple of weekends of lower intensity work in front of me.
As for weather.... hmmmm.... weather in New Hampshire in March is consistently awesome, right? This might just be the biggest X-factor for the day. It's not uncommon for there to be a random 70 or 75 degree day in mid-March. Which would be AMAZING for anyone who wants to hang out and cheer me on. But after training through the winter, 70 or 75 degrees for me will feel like Hell on Earth. Of course, more likely would be very cold, icy, and/or snowy weather. If the weather is unsafe, I will alter the route, distance or date. (One of the things on my to do list is to ask someone to be my 'official' Safety Czar. I will ask him or her to be The Decider on this issue, since I am sure my own vision will be clouded by my desire to complete the project).
Finally the route. Thinking about the weather helped to limit/simplify my route options. Ideally I will run someplace flat, but around here, flat is just not happening. I could run the Cotton Valley Rail Train... except on March 15 is will surely still be a snow mobile trail and not yet ready for bikers, runners and walkers. I could run a track (barf!) but besides be 400 meters for deadly boring, the tracks around here will surely still be snow covered at that time. So, that leaves me with choosing an out and back, loops, or point-to-point options. More pondering this in another post.
I am happy to say that I now have 14 Team Members... and another DUDE! (Thanks, Big Al!) Don't miss out!
- Kathleen - Ctr. Harbor, NH
- Kerry - VT
- Megan - Rochester, NH
- Bethany - Philadelphia, PA
- Hope - Candor, NY
- Richard - Candor, NY
- Sandra - Milford, NH
- Catherine - Kenosha, WI
- Anne - Sandwich, NH
- Mandy - Wolfeboro, NH
- Mandy - Barnstead, NH
- Meghan - Rochester, NY
- Teagan - Rochester, NY
- Al - Zion, IL
Why have I not made the list yet? :) karen
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