Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon: Let’s Talk Goals

Monday, I was driving Jeff to work and he asked me what my goal was for the race this weekend…and I realized I didn’t really know.

I ran the Fiesta Bowl Half once before–in 2011. It was my first race ever, and I was running the PF Chang’s RNR Marathon four weeks after. I can’t say it was something I trained for, since I had already run a 20 miler in anticipation of that first marathon.

(I thought I had photos from that half but apparently not….I trust you can use your imaginations)

It went perfectly fine. I ran a steady, easy pace. I had been training at around 9:00 min/miles since I wanted to break 4 hours on the marathon (I didn’t), so I ended up running an 8:20 pace and felt good. It made me excited about the marathon and it was a really fun experience.

Sunday will be Half Marathon #3 for me, and I’ve never really trained for a half before. The only one that I can kind of say I did was last October (2013) when I ran the Halloween Half in Peoria. But, I didn’t truly train for it. I upped my milage to be sure I could run it, but I didn’t do any kind of speed work, or hard runs. There were some extenuating circumstances, and while I made sure my long runs got done, that was about it.

I ran as a pumpkin. Because, Halloween.

Anyway, I ended up running that race at a 7:50 pace, finishing in 1:42. A huge PR from that first Fiesta Bowl where I ran a 1:52. It was a small race, so I finished 6th overall, 4th female and 1st in my age group. Not bad for barely training.

As I get ready to run this Sunday, I have a few things running (ba dum bum) through my head. I want to use this race as a gauge for how my marathon training is going. I have about 10 weeks of training before the Phoenix Marathon, so still quite a bit of time to work on certain issues.

So, let’s talk goals for Sunday.

“A” Goal: Run Sub-1:40 (and PR)

I definitely think I’m capable of this. I’ve trained hard and I feel good about how things are going. I think running a sub-1:40 is not out of reach.

“B” Goal: PR

I’ll take PR-ing under any circumstances. Even if it’s by running a 7:49 pace 😉

“C” Goal: Run smart and run strong

At the end of the day, this race is to see how training is going and to identify any problem areas that I may need to focus on in the coming weeks. Running well is a priority. The other things are superficial and ego-driven, and, really, the big goal is getting to Boston and I have 10 more weeks to work to get in shape for that.

So, that’s what I’m going into the race on Sunday thinking. Now, I just need to figure out what I’m going to listen to, and what I’m going to wear. You know, the important things.