My son continues to misunderstand the point of a vacation, having brought daycare germs with him to our family trip on Long Beach Island. After dropping everything for a visit with a local pediatrician, it seems he’s dealing with a virus and we can only wait it out until he feels better. This is not very inspiring because he slept pretty poorly last night, and sounded like a pug even while asleep. Also, ominously, my throat hurts.
This is all particularly frustrating as I just wrapped up a particularly strong week of training, and my first fifty-mile week since before my son was born. This, until last night, was inspiring because my wife and I have been ironing out our daily routines to keep our household running smoothly. Being a parent means constantly making adjustments, and it seemed our adjustments were starting to work. They may yet be working, but our son is determined to confound the data for the time being. Being a parent also means being patient.
Speaking of patience, a few times this week I was tempted to do more in my training, but stopped short of any extra miles. I don’t need to rush things with a race next week; better to show up feeling good and ready to get an honest test of my fitness. Better also to kick whatever illness has befallen my noble house.
The highlight of this past week’s training was another personal-best session in my weekly hill workout. I’ve been a runner more than long enough to know that There Is No Secret, but this feels about as close to The Secret as I’ve ever seen.
Also, I was blessed with a great week of birds: multiple heron and egret sightings, as well as a white-breasted nuthatch. Another benefit of birding while running is that when you get home and your spouse politely asks how your run was, you can respond with something actually interesting instead of droning on about pace and effort and how thirsty you are—which has everything to do with the humidity and nothing at all with the fact that you don’t drink water before going outside in August. Birding can save you from confronting your bad habits! Sadly, blogging will not. Maybe you can succeed where I have failed.
Anyway, I’m racing the Mercer County Half Marathon on Sunday. This should be a low-stakes race, but I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t have any goals. To be honest, I’m not sure it makes sense to race without a goal. A race is a test. The goal is the rubric. A race without a goal is just a run.
So here are my goals for Sunday:
🟧 85:00 (2:50 marathon pace)
🟨 83:00 (VDOT equivalent to my Sunset Classic result)
🟩 81:30 (VDOT equivalent to a 2:50 marathon)
🏆 Top-5 Finish
My plan is to settle in at 85-minute pace early, unless there are people around me running a little faster. I’m hoping to run a negative split off that pace, so if I end up close to 85 minutes I’ll know my endurance has faded since my son was born. I ran 85:30 through halfway at Rehoboth.
Running 83 minutes would be a nice confirmation that my fitness from sunset is translating upwards, which would be a good sign for a future marathon. Running closer to 82 or even 81 minutes would mean I’m doing way better than I thought. The fastest I think I could run a half marathon, with a dedicated training block and peak fitness, is about 80 minutes—and I’m biased. I don’t think this will happen.
My goal of a top-5 finish for a tiny local race like this is extrinsically meaningless, but serves as a reminder that this isn’t just a time trial. I run my best when I remember to compete. I think we all do. And even though the stakes are low, I want to get my best on Sunday.
Depending on how I measure up to my goals, I may or may not add a late fall marathon to my calendar. My thinking is similar to last year when I hopped into Rehoboth: if I can get myself another crack at a BQ, I should take it. Even if it’s not my day, I’ll have Jersey City 2026 to try again.
Right now, I’m taking a slight dip in mileage and intensity to freshen up for the race, ward off illness, and rally to enjoy my last vacation for the year. Being a parent means figuring out how to get it done.
theDNF 
Leave a comment