Sprint for Spring and Qualifying for Boston

This Saturday I’ll be running the Spring for Spring 5k together with my little Ethiopian pace team.  I love this event – it was the first race I ran - back in 2012 when Margaret was just a baby.  My only goal for this race was to keep up with my 80 year old neighbor and finish without stopping.  But it was so much fun to be out with everyone listening to the national anthem, waiting anxiously for the starter horn, having neighbors cheer me on, and gulping cold water from paper cups handed out by volunteers – I was hooked! 

I’m setting some ambitious running goals for the next two years.  I’m going back to the Marine Corps Marathon in October and my goal is to run in 4:30.  I’m running the Houston Half again in January and my goal is to run under 2:00.  And after that – gulp - I want to qualify for Boston.  I have to run under 4 hours – 26 miles at a 9:00 min/mile pace. 

    

What I’m Reading:  I just finished the Suicide Index by Joan Wickersham.  A memoir detailing the impact of her father’s suicide, she writes about how hard it was to let go of the many unanswered questions that lingered after his death.  A hard, sad read.  Also finished Mermaids in Paradise by Lydia Millet – a great literary mystery and so much fun.