Need for Speed

When my friend who is an amazing runner heard I was running the Fly Pig Half Marathon, she asked me what most runners would ask, “What’s your goal?” For me the race is something I want to experience because it’s a big part of Cincinnati’s culture. I also think there is a good chance I will be working while I run, which means I will be doing live on-air hits throughout the race, so I won’t be able to focus solely on the run.

My friend also introduced me to this website, www.athlinks.com. You type in a name to search and the results from every race that person has ever run pops up. As my friend said, a little creepy, or awesome if your interested in doing some research on you're fellow athletes.

My friend pulled up my results because I couldn’t remember the exact time of my fastest half marathon; I just knew it was a sub eight minute pace.

When I saw all my races together, I have to admit I was a little bummed. The first half marathon I completed while I was interning my senior year of college in NYC wasn’t that far off from my fastest race.

When I first got into running I was a freshman in college. Prior to that, I had always been involved with sports, but now suddenly I didn’t have a daily practice to attend because I wasn’t part of a team. I didn’t really know what to do at the gym, so I just started running.

It became my place of Zen. I would leave my cell phone at the door, lace up my shoes and go. It became my time to re-center myself. A mental cleansing. I never worried about “training,” nor did I ever use a watch to track my speed.

Since then I have become more competitive. The first race I set a goal for was my last race, The Duel, which was my best race.

I really want to start seeing improvement in my speed, which means I need to put in some hard work. I plan to do a speed workout and interval run once a week. It’s not going to be easy but I am excited for the challenge. The last few months I’ve been in that gym rut. You know, when you still go to work out but it’s kind of same old same old. You’ve lost the intensity and your drive a bit.

This new goal will help give me more purpose in the gym. My long-term goal is to run the Columbus Marathon in the fall. My dream is to Boston Qualify. If you are a runner yourself you’ll be able to tell that I have a LONG way to go. My age group qualifying time is under a 3:35:00. The only marathon I’ve run was clocked at a 4:17:31. Shaving off 45 minutes, easy… right?