Chicago Marathon: 5:30

Well, I did my trial run and placed in the 12:30 mile group. I wanted 12:00 but 12:30 is pretty good too. I’m excited that I moved up from my old 14:00 mile group from last year.

I’m more in the neighborhood of 5:45 for the marathon at this pace. I might move up a pace group later this summer or I might just go nuts towards the end of the marathon to get to 5:30. Or I might just settle for 5:45. We’ll see.

I really think that my weight is keeping me back from my running goals. Next year I want to run 10:00 miles. Thats a big jump from 12:30. I’m more or less the same weight as I was last year and I still managed to bump up my pace. To get myself to the next level for the 2009 marathon I’m really going to focus on losing weight. I’m hoping to get down to 200 pounds by the end of the year.

Hopefully I’ll place in the right pace group. I’m kind of nervous. We’ll see what happens.

I’ve found that consistency is the key to running success. Getting enough rest and eating a healthy diet make all the difference in meeting my running goals. I’ve been unemployed for over a month now. As a result I’ve been stress eating and not sticking to a regular sleep schedule. So I’m going to work on cutting that shit out.