Mission: Impossible

Cue up the Mission Impossible theme music. I’m aiming for 3:43 this time around.

It probably sounds, well, impossible after I ran my first two Chevron Houston Marathons in 4:twentysomething (I was so disappointed I have blocked my 2009 finishing time from my mind) and 4:11:26. After all, that’s shaving 18 minutes off my marathon personal record – 4:01:26 at Detroit in 2006.

But theoretically, I can do 3:43. I can run a 5k in 23 minutes without too much effort., so I have the speed. I have finished (running, not walking) every marathon I have entered, so I have the endurance.

So what’s the problem? In 2006, I stayed with my training partner for the first 12 miles. She’d pulled a groin muscle a week before the race and I had promised to stay with her as long as I could. She finished. I beat her by 22 minutes. (Update: She just finished the 2010 Detroit Free Press Marathon in 3:44.)

In 2009, I trained for only 12 weeks. I stopped to talk about the race twice during our live coverage. I was also carrying baby weight I hadn’t lost.

In 2010, I paced someone for the first half and stopped at the half to talk to Elissa Rivas for our live broadcast. I was also still carrying weight. I’d stopped calling it baby weight since my daughter was nearly two and a half.

2011 is going to be different. No excuses.

The day after the 2010 marathon, I started eating better and cutting my portion sizes. To date I’ve lost 28 pounds – and that’s 28 pounds that won’t be slowing me down for 26.2 miles. My body mass index dropped from a healthy 24.6 to a svelter but still healthy 20.5.

I have begun a 16 week training plan.

I won’t be pacing or staying with anyone. I’m running solo. I won’t be stopping to talk during our live coverage.

During the 2010 race, it slowed me down by more than 5 minutes. Justin Sternberg, the special projects producer who is part of the marathon coverage, said, “You can make Boston this time.”

Gulp. No excuses.

So my mission, which I have chosen to accept, is 3 hours and 43 minutes. It breaks the frustrating four hour mark. It qualifies me for the prestigious Boston Marathon. And no, I don’t think I’ll self destruct on the way to a 3:43.

See you at the finish line