Miles and miles you came, sweat dripping down your face

My race schedule is confirmed and I’m excited about the next 12 weeks…

Oasis Zoo Run 10km – Sept 21

Niagara Falls Half Marathon – Oct 27

Fukuoka Marathon – Dec 1

Fukuoka was my first choice once I figured I was behind my STWM preparations.  The extra six weeks are exactly what I need to get ready. Fukuoka could have been my first choice in the beginning but STWM got the nod because it’s so close to home, I would have my own pacemaker, my teammates are running there and, if things went extremely well, there’s a hefty $38,000 bonus for the Canadian record.  Fukuoka is a great race on a fast course and l know the course pretty well seeing as I ran 31km of it last year.  Travelling to Japan is a bit of a challenge but I’ve raced there a few times so I know how to play the game.  The other challenge is the pacing.  There is usually only pacers for the leaders and they go out at 2:06-2:07 pace.  I’ll have to formulate some pacing strategy and be willing to be flexible on race day.

In the lead-up to Fukuoka I have the Zoo 10km to get, what will be, my first real race effort in 5 months and then the Niagara Falls half marathon 5 weeks out from Fukuoka.  Last year I talked at the pasta dinner at the Niagara Falls race weekend and ran a good workout along part of the course.  The course is fast, the race is well organized and has a good atmosphere. It should set up Fukuoka well.

Pacing the 2012 Fukuoka marathon “B” group – Scott Overall, Ryan Vail, Andrew Lemoncello

We did mile repeats on Monday and I was prepared to run them relatively slower since I haven’t been in that zone for a long time but I hit them just as fast as I have in the beginning of any of my marathon build-ups. A few days later we did a tempo session and that too went better than expected this early on in my build-up. Gillis is rolling well (he’s racing STWM in 6 weeks) and it’s nice to push the pace together. My overall running volume is where I want it to be having run 201km the other week and 225km last week with a 40km long run in the pouring rain.  Things are coming around nicely considering I wasn’t supposed to start running until August 1st after 8 weeks off (I ended up taking 7 weeks off).

Spirits are high in Japan right now!!