My Marathon this weekend… and Boston?!

As of my last post, I was deciding on the my marathon for this weekend. I’m at 22 miles in my training. If you’ve followed my training in the past, you’ll know that if I’m going over 20 miles, I use a marathon to get it done and check another one off. I usually will push the 20-24 miles (depending on what my training needs) then jog the rest. Or I’ll just take it easy overall, saving the big push for my seasonal goal marathon. The 2 options were:

1) Erie marathon: 26.2 miles, FLAT, road, 5.5 hours away from home

2) Germantown 50k: 31 miles, hilly, trail, 1 hour away from home.

With 3 young kids, traveling from home is a BIG deal… so that distance matters. Unlike my 50 Marathon State adventures (blog here) in my 20’s, I don’t have the same freedom for travel. I’ll be making due with a lot of mid-west (OH, KY, IN) marathons with exceptions for fun family trips (hello Disney!!!). 

📸: My 3 boys. M1 and M2 started school this week!

So what did I choose?! We will get there, but first a story of love… and extreme over-confidence in me from my husband… 
The other day, I get a text from my husband that looks like this…

Bless his soul. While I appreciate the great deal of faith mt husband has in me, he maybe doesn’t understand that to qualify for Boston, it would have to be in the next week 😳. Or how difficult BQ’ing is. Have I done it? 30 times over but that was 10’years and 3 kids ago. I was also deep into my marathon training, clicking off an average of a marathon every other week. My current training plan has been focused on adding speed, but I went back to the start and have been building up endurance at speed. 

I’m at 20 miles with a goal to TRY for a BQ at my October race… however, I also like a challenge and in one little message he (likely) unknowingly solidified my choice for this weekend. Erie Marathon being flat and fast is a notorious Boston Qualifying race. IF I’m feeling good that day and IF I can find the strength to push beyond my training… it IS doable… maybe? Or I could crash and burn at 18 miles?  I guess we will see!

My weekend marathon: The Erie Marathon at Presque Isle in PA! This will be my 93rd lifetime marathon. It's also the SECOND time I've run this. Last time I ran Erie was in the infancy of my marathoning- just my 14th State in 2009! Some things have changed... others not so much. You can check out the race ratings from the last time I ran this race here. In 2009 I gave it a 3.8 out of 5. The GOOD was the race organization and course. The not so great? The swag (medals and shirts were ok). I'm really excited to see what has changed. 

Mini Race Rundown: 

Erie Marathon at Presque Isle ~ Sunday September 10, 2023. Start time: 7am

Erie, PA ~ Presque Isle State Park

Registration Fees: $110 - $140 (this was $40-60 in 2009!)

Year Running: 29th

Races Available: Marathon ONLY (there used to be a half and a relay- I HATE relays during races. They really mess with pacing for those running the fulls. SO glad this change was made). 

Certified Course/BQ Certified?: Yes/Yes... MANY people run this to BQ and 34% actually accomplish it on average. This weekend, it's the last race before Boston registration opens.

Cutoff Time and Early Start Option: No early start. There is a 6.5 hours limit 

Weather Update: It it looking to land in the mid 60's and 70's with a chance of rain. NOT the best conditions... not the worst. 

Course: 

MarathonGuide

The course is a runners dream- flat, looped (lots of water stops), shaded, and FAST. Given the timing and course, many people run this to attempt to BQ (Boston Qualify). 

Race Plan: It's been YEARS since I last BQ'd. That should make things easier, right? I would just age into a slower qualifying time (Boston qualifying is done by age groups). However... I actually have to run FASTER than the last time I qualified (10 years ago). Why? People have gotten faster, so they pushed the BQ time's UP. I used to have to run a 3:40 in my 20's and now I need to run a 3:35 in my late 30's! When I was in my 20's my best time was 3:19 and I was BQ'ing left and right. I thought those days were behind me, and maybe they are. But I also remember a time that I was running a 4:00 marathon with dreams of hitting a BQ. It took a few months and lots and lots of MISSES before I finally made it... and made it, and made it... 20 times over. 

PR: 3:19

Post-Babies PR: 3:42

Current BQ Time: 3:35

This IS supposed to be my a TRAINING run with goals of racing the Hudson Mohawk in October. However, if I'm feeling good, I may let 'er rip for the first 20 and try to hold on after that. I have a few goals for this race:

#1: FINISH Marathon 93

#2: PR (post babies)... better than a 3:42

#3: BQ

Let's see how it goes. 

Happy Running!

-Stephanie