Inspiration from another generation
I have set a general goal to run my marathon in less than five hours. A little closer to four and a half (Oprah’s time was 4:29, and I feel like I should be able to beat her, but I don’t want to get in over my head!) would be great, but I want to set a fairly conservative goal so I’m not too disappointed. It’s my first marathon, after all, and hopefully there will be more if all goes well! I have the rest of my life to run a sub-four marathon – but I’ll need a little more training before that happens!
Anyway, my point in bringing up my goal time is my recent discovery that 77-year-old August Leone of Boca Raton, Florida, recently ran his 21st (!) marathon in under 5 hours — in 4:59 to be exact! 
(Get the full story on this inspirational marathon run.) If someone approximately two and a half times my age can run 21 marathons in 7 years (he started marathoning at age 70!), and finish in less than five hours, surely my young (ish) legs can carry me through ONE marathon in less than five hours, right? Here’s hoping!
Anyway, I’m getting sort of nervous about my training run pace vs. the marathon pace. I guess doing training runs at slightly faster than the marathon pace isn’t a problem, since the longer distance will definitely slow me down on the big day. But if I’m accustomed to running too quickly on my training runs, I worry I’ll go out too fast during the marathon and ruin myself for later. Dilemma!
I guess I’ll just have to pay attention to my pacing on marathon day and stay conservative for the first 15-20 miles, then see how I feel. I don’t imagine I’ll really be raring to run an 9-minute mile pace for the last 6 miles of the marathon. 
I’m probably getting ahead of myself here, so I’ll just keep plugging along with my plan and see how it goes, and continue to remind myself that if a 77-year-old guy can do it, so can I (hopefully!).
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