I Was Almost Turned Down

I debated if I should call this post "My New Coach," but I figured the title I used was a little bit more interesting.  Let me set the stage for you.  There are certain people who only need one name: Angelina, Prince, Gandhi.  Well, in the running community here, if you say "Joan," everyone knows who you mean!

I've been fortunate enough to meet Joan via Team Essen, my running club.  She is an amazing runner and is beyond friendly.  I have no delusions of grandeur; I cannot keep up with Joan!  Her race resume, if she were to keep one, would be filled with many 1st place finishes, and, in tons of races, she beats the majority of the men!  Joan runs half marathons, marathons, and does triathlons as well.  Oh, I should also say that she teaches a killer high-intensity interval training class at the local YMCA.  The one and only time I attended one, she damn near killed me because the workout was that good!!!

Joan and I run together every so often, and I knew that she got her run coach certification via the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) not too long ago.  Today, Joan and I met at Dunkin' Donuts to get in 10 miles, and I figured it was as good of a time as any to ask if she wanted a new client: me!

So as we're running, I ask how the coaching is going and how many clients she has.  Joan's an elementary school teacher, and her plan with the coaching was to take on a small number of clients so that she could provide them with top-notch service.  Truthfully, I was afraid that she might be maxed out and not be wanting any new clients.  After she told me how many clients she had, I really did worry that she'd say 'no,' so I figured I'd keep it light.

Me: Do you want one more client?

Joan: You're ultra-runner girl; I know nothing about that!

Me: Well, my next race is the Marine Corps Marathon, and you do know about marathons and Boston qualifying.

Joan: I do!

The good news is that Joan is taking me on as a client, and by the sound of what we talked about during the rest of our run, what she'll set up for me will be absolutely perfect.  It'll be a combination of running (duh) and strength-training (which I totally need).

As a multiple-time qualifier for Boston, Joan knows that just barely getting the time you need as per the BAA site isn't good enough.  We discussed that shooting for a 3:35 time (or better) is really the way to go.  I knew what the pace had to be for 3:40, but I wasn't familiar with the 3:35 pace.  When I looked it up, I found out that would be 8:12 per mile.  (For reference's sake, a marathon time of 3:40 means a pace of 8:23-8:24 per mile.)  To be honest, I think that the 8:23 pace is completely do-able; 8:12 will be a stretch for me.  I'm going to have to work hard to get anywhere close to that.  However, here's one of the reasons why Joan is already an awesome coach.  Not letting on to the fact that I'm not sure if I can realistically get/keep an 8:12 pace, this was Joan's email back to me after just giving her the paces that I listed above: "I think an 8:12 is completely doable! I have no worries. I think some of your miles could be faster, some a little slower, and the average will work out great. You could shoot for 8 min miles, giving some wiggle room."  The idea of an 8 minute mile sort of boggles my mind at this point, but, to be honest, the idea of actually doing a marathon boggled my mind at one point.