Running Notes!

Guess what?  I made it into the Boston Marathon!  Yes, remember this race?  Well, the Boston Qualifying (BQ) time for my age group is 3:40 but in the last few years (2012, 2014-2016), a person had to run faster than the qualifying time to actually be accepted.  This apparently causes a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth on internet forums.  

This year, the time to beat was 2:09 faster than the qualifying time.  Since I ran 2:50 under the qualifying time, I was in!  Hooray!  I'm really excited to run with my favorite training partner again and it should be a great weekend in April.  There's a lot of training between now and then, though!

Stolen from the Internet!  Maybe I should get on Pintrest.  "Pinned" sounds better!

I'll start a 16 week plan right after Christmas.  My plan for the Fall is to do more strength and interval training for speed before I head into a Winter of increasing distances. I'm going to use my 21 Day Fix Extreme DVDs and throw some running into the mix, 2-3 times a week.  

Bright blue marshmallow clouds!

I'm also nervous because for the first time since high school, I switched shoe brands!  I want to try the Hoka One One Clifton 3s, which are really padded but apparently, are still able to move in a streamlined-feeling way.  Here's hoping!  I will let you know.  They compared favorably to my trusty Asics and since I'm not getting any younger, I figured impact-reducing shoes could only help.  Unless I get shin splints.  And then I would be very sad.