Three Things Thursday: August Miles, Marathon Goals

1.  I ran 140.9 miles in the month of August.  Other than a few niggles here and there it all felt pretty good. I am 10 days away from my second marathon and am getting excited and nervous! I know at this point I can do it, I mean I have already done 21.4 miles.  I can do this.

2. Goal setting. I haven't wrote down any goals so this is as good of a time as any to do that.

• A Goal: 3:48  This would be at about a 8:42 pace.  This is reasonable I think given the mostly downhill nature of the course.  There are some uphill miles from miles 6-12, but the rest of the map shows downhill or flat from there. I do know from having run the half marathon before that I will encounter two smallish hills near the end somewhere. 
• B Goal: Just beat my previous marathon time of 3:56:55.  This is about a 9:02 pace and close to what most of my long runs were at, so I think I could do this. 
• C Goal:  Just finish and have fun doing it!  I know some days races don't go as planned, so this is my back up plan.

A little blurry but you get the idea

3. Now I need to figure out if I am going to carry my own hydration or get it all from aid stations.  I have been using Tailwind for my long runs, so I think I will carry some and get some from aid stations. My shoes, socks, and tank are decided just not my bottoms.  I know from past experiences running here that I will feel the elevation a little bit, but not too bad.

How was your August?
Do you set goals for races or just run them?