Hot Chocolate 15K: Goals

HAPPY DECEMBER!  I realized after reading Sarah's post on Wednesday morning that I should think about December goals... but I'm drawing a blank!  I want to stay in good running shape, work on my strength training, and cook/bake fun things... I also want to get a lot of work done on my next milestone since exams end Dec 9th and I'll have a bit more free time. None of those goals are very specific or measurable though... and they look very reminiscent of my November goals!  So, I'll ponder and get back to ya'll :-)

Yesterday, I completed my last training run for the 15k!  It's coming up so quickly!  I'm super excited, because in addition to M running the 15k, I know about 5 other people running the 15k (including SUSAN!) and another 6 or so running the 5k!  For one of my friends, it will be her first 5k ever - so awesome!  So, the whole race should be really fun, and I'm definitely excited to get some delicious chocolate at the end.  The weather forecast is also looking great - overnight low Friday 32, but high of 49 on Saturday... so cool, but not too cold!

Anyway, M and I have been training hard and doing speed training every week, so I figured it's about time to share my race goals with you guys.  Similar to Susan's style of goal-setting, I have a few different levels:

A Goal: Finish in 1:30:00.  I don't know quite when or how I got this in my head, but I REALLY want to finish in 90 minutes or less.  I'm not sure how realistic that is for me at all - it is about a 9:39 pace, so about 30 seconds faster than I ran the half only ~6 weeks ago.  But I've been training hard, so we'll see!!!

B Goal: Finish in 1:32:48, which I derived from the McMillian calculator.  Based on my half marathon time, the McMillian calculator says I should be able to finish in this time, which works out to a 9:57 pace.  I would be pretty pleased if my average pace was under 10:00 min/miles I think!  1:33:12 would be exactly 10:00 miles, so something like that would be nice to say.

C Goal: Finish in 1:34:54, which would be the same pace I ran the half in.  With almost 4 miles fewer to run and some speed work under my belt, I should definitely be able to maintain this!

D Goal: Finish and HAVE FUN!  I have, of course, figured out what a 10:30 and 11:00 min/mile finishing time would be as well, but I figure if the race isn't going that well speed-wise, it's better to enjoy myself than to fret over setting any records.  Besides, it's my first 15k so I'll set a PR no matter what!