Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it! One more 20-mile training run to
go and I should be ready for the VCM…I hope.

Brian,

That’s what I thought as well going into my first marathon last May – I had
run a few 5k’s under 20:00 and used the pace calculators to try to
extrapolate that to a marathon pace. I unfortunately wound up hitting the
wall around mile 15, and didn’t really recover. I think those pace
calculators have value to a degree, but going from a 5k time to a marathon prediction is a fairly inexact science. There are a number of factors that I think explain my dropoff from the low 3:00 predicted time, with heat, training at the lower end of mileage recommendations for a marathon, running a 5k during the week beforehand, and my belief that my body might be better built for shorter races being among the most important. That being said, I did finish the Manchester City Half-Marathon in sub-1:30 last Fall, so that was a considerable improvement and may be a better predictor of performance
this time around.

I guess I’m trying to not get too hooked on the idea of BQ-ing this Spring,
and plan to train harder through the summer when I have more time (I’m a teacher) and give it a solid effort in Hartford in the Fall.

Thanks for the comment!

Pete