Marine Corps Marathon Update!!

I started training for my 4^th Marine Corps Marathon a few weeks ago. My friend Julia and I are running it together, and so far we are on track to have a really good pace and overall time. Our strategy has been to run 3-4 mile slower jogs throughout the week (2-3 times) and then a progressively longer run 1 time per weekend. In other words, we started off with a 7 mile run and increased the mileage by 1 for each subsequent week. This past Saturday, Julia set the pace at a 7 minute mile for 11 miles, which I thought would be way too fast for me as I normally run at an 8 min-8:30 pace. However, I surprised myself and knocked out 11 miles in 1hr 18min! The question will be if we can keep that pace up for 26.2 miles. Next week we have to run 12 miles, I will set the pace, and Julia will try to beat my time. If you haven’t trained with a partner, it is by far a much better approach. I would have never run at a 7 min pace unless my training partner challenged me to do so. Your partner also keeps you disciplined and accountable throughout the duration of your training.