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I’m setting a new marathon goal: sub 2.30
The title says it all.
I’m going all in with my running. It’s my passion and if I aim high, I aim high.
This guy in this picture is me. I’m 29. Athens 2009. Going through the usual pain of the final stretch of a marathon. Finish time. 4.14.
I wouldn’t run another marathon for over a decade. I had always enjoyed running but wasn’t ‘serious’ about it, whatever ‘serious’ means.
Year 2020 — Enters the pandemic. I’m forty. I start to run more, not because I suddenly have a goal. It just happens. I run more. I lose weight. I discover intervals. I become consistent at running. I improve a lot.
October 2021 — I run my first sub-3-hour marathon.
I then run four more sub-3-hour marathons, improving every time. My most recent time is 2.43 (Surf City Marathon, February 2024). Should’ve been a bit faster if not for the wind.
There is still a lot of work to do to get under 2.40.
And now 2.30?
If you’re not a runner, you probably don’t understand how dramatic the difference is between a 2.40 marathon and a 2.30. It’s huge. Sub 2.30 marathon pace is my current 10K pace (a little over 5.40 minutes/ mile). So I’d have to run more than four times farther at what is currently a very painful speed.
I am not even sure I am — even with the best training — physically capable of running a marathon at such a fast pace, as I enter my mid-forties. Are there genetic limitations? I don’t know. Kipchoge says no human is limited but maybe it’s just a catchy phrase.
But I want to try. I want to test my limits.
I usually don’t announce goals. Don’t say, do. But I’ve become good at running, so being vocal and ambitious is okay.
I don’t have a timeline. It’s a lot, a lot of work ahead.
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You can read more about my running on Substack:
Starting to use Instagram more:
