Two years later, Take 2. 2018: the Year of the BQ (& getting into Boston)

Two years ago, I had really big goals for Pocono Marathon. I wanted to run sub 3:20 when my PR was only 3:53. I knew I had a big PR in me, but that big?! I was young, stupid and naive! Sub 3:20 is a big goal of mine, but like many things, marathoning takes time. It's not something you can keep doing every weekend to get a better time! Pocono marathon was hard for me, the training went well but the course did not. Those hills. Those downhills, were killer! My thighs and calves were not prepared, I seriously considered dropping out but I wanted to finish. It wasn't going the way I wanted to go- but I still managed to PR'ed. 3:46 & change. My body had never been that beaten up from a race before. I figured I would just go down in distance and race a couple halfs-but was somehow persuaded to do Philly Marathon 2016. 

Philly Marathon 2016 was one of the best races of my life! Minus the wind and the pain of  running a marathon. I ran with one of my good friends and Oiselle Volee teammate, Sam and we stuck together for the first 18 miles. She is a great at keeping BQ pace  and we even formed a little sub 3:35 pace group (because 3:35  pace team was banking time) She calmed me down when I got all revved up by the crowd. Once we got into Manayunk, I was so excited to see everyone from Philadelphia Runner cheer crowd. During Philly Marathon 2014, Manayunk was the worse part of the course for me. But in 2016, I was ready to grab the bull by the horns and power through. I remember seeing my mile spilts being under 8 minutes and was hoping it wasn't going to bite me in the butt later. Those miles definitely helped me BQ'ed. I crossed the line in 3:33:44, a Boston Marathon qualifying time. However, when I applied this year to Boston Marathon, it wasn't good enough, as bad as it stung- when they charge your card, and then the charge goes away- I needed this motivation. I needed a wake up call to get myself motivated to finally run Boston. 

In 2018, I will be running the New Jersey Marathon on April 29th. I'm bringing this blog back to keep me inspired by you all. To keep myself accountable and motivated to get a faster BQ and to get over that finish on Boylston Ave. 

I will be giving you my week by week running updates and everything else in between. What I eat, what shoes I run in, what I'm fueling with and who I am inspired by. I hope to interview some of my favorite people who inspire me to run fast and to get that BQ.