The week after I ran in Las Vegas I took a trip to New York City & ran a 6k Jingle Jog in Brooklyn. I was nice not have to run long distance & after I returned to Tampa my goal was to increase my speed for a popular 10k race in Clearwater Beach, Say No To Drugs Holiday Classic 10k. During the week prior to the 10k I cranked up the speed for 3 workouts. I then raced the 10k race Saturday December 17 just a few seconds short of my 10k PR. My legs felt good & I was excited about an article I read in runners world a few weeks earlier.
Runners World magazine listed the top marathons in the country to run for speed. One of the marathons listed was the Jacksonville Bank Marathon. The only problem was that this marathon was Sunday, December 18-- the day after my 10k and only 2 weeks after my last marathon attempt in Las Vegas (December 4). I decided at the last minute when I got home from the 10k to book a hotel in Jacksonville and run the marathon Sunday morning.
The weather in Jacksonville was perfect. On Saturday in Tampa it was around 80 degrees. Somehow in Jacksonville, FL the temperature Sunday morning was around 47 degrees at race start. I had on a sleeveless shirt & shorts, my mind was set at going out for a 3:45 marathon (very high expectation since my previous marathon PR was only 3:59 and that was at Chicago, October 2009). I clicked along at under 8:35 min/miles for majority of the race. I only started slowing down around mile 23. I somehow finished the marathon with a huge PR finishing at 3:47! I couldn't have been more ecstatic!
I still had the Disney Goofy Challenge (39.3 mile run) and Miami marathon coming up and needed to rest my body between Jacksonville and Disney. The dismal Las Vegas marathon was only a memory now... I was definitely experiencing a runners high! Can it get better than this?
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