Monday, March 5, 2012

Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon - The decision

In case you missed it.  This past Saturday I finally made the decision on which Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon race I would participate in.....



Now, I promise I don't hace commitment issues.  It only took an 18 mile run, 2 Christmas Ales, and a Summer Shandy to finally make my decision.

In all seriousness, this was my plan all along.  I had a hard time this year deciding what goals to shoot for and it ended up being a blessing in disguise.  I enjoyed the freedom to train how I wanted and without the pressure of sticking to a strict program.  I enjoy what I do, so there was never an instance when I slacked because I didn't have a set goal.  In the end, I trained harder this year than I did last year.  This has paid off and I feel that I am in better shape now than when I was before last year's marathon.  My last two long runs of 15 and 18 miles where each 12+ minutes faster than my best run at that distance last year.

I learned a lot last year about training, preparation, and racing a marathon.  I am looking forward to applying that to this year.  Check back soon for another post that will I share these items in greater detail.

I also want to thank everyone again for their support this year and all the encouragement you have given me.  It is greatly appreciated.

BEAL

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOOT! Party time 5/20!

Bill said...

nice. congrats on the decision. hope to see your goal for the race in coming posts.

i'll be one of the pacers for the 4:10 group, so maybe we'll be able to run together.

good luck with the rest of your training!
-bill

Anne said...

Woohoo! Maybe I'll see you out there (as you fly by me...) Good luck with the rest of your training!

it's all about pace said...

Good luck

Anonymous said...

Awesome decision! I would have been highly disappointed if you didn't run the full this year. I am so excited to see you PR the shit out of this race :)

Matty O said...

I never had any doubt haha. I knew you would make the "right" decision.

David H. said...

Congrats on making that decision. I find a variety of beers help make those decisions easy. :)