My goal at the Chicago Marathon was to run 5:15 pace and finish under 2:18, in order to qualify for the Olympic Marathon Trials. I was actually right on pace and feeling good through 20 miles, but at mile 22 my calves started cramping up pretty bad, so I ended up hobbling through the last couple miles and finished in 2:19:56. Although I was disappointed that I fell a couple minutes short of the trials standard, I’m happy to run a four minute personal record and I look forward to taking another shot at the Trials standard next spring. I plan to race the USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston in January, and since Baby Boyd #2 is due in mid-April, I’m thinking about doing a March marathon before our second is born. Which marathon, I have not yet decided.
As far as Cross Country, I plan to run the PNTF Championships at Woodland Park on November 3rd, and following that, the USATF Club National Championships in Bend, Oregon, on December 14th.
Happy running!
Ed. Note: Cool heavily-watermarked photos from Travis’ big day in Chicago, with interesting animated watermark effects on top of a beautiful blue SRC singlet, can be found here.