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Runners, eat your hearts out.

Here was Jen Goff’s day in Saturday’s Richmond Marathon: One hour and 36 minutes for the first half of the 26.2-mile race. A mere 1:30 for the second half.

The negative split -- and an impressive one. Not bad for a marathon rookie.

Goff’s time of 3:06.35 placed her 15th among women and 116th overall and easily qualified her for the Boston Marathon.

But make no mistake, Goff, 29, isn’t a running rookie. Goff got started as a youngster, going out with her dad, Jim Reid, who surprised his girl by showing up to cheer for her Saturday. Goff competed in track and field and cross country in high school (Bethel, Conn.) and at Lehigh University. In college, she specialized in the 5K and 10K distances on the track.

“It finally came down to me saying, ‘Why haven’t I done a marathon?’” she says.

So she put together her own training plan, beginning in July, and ran six days per week, maxing out at 53 miles per week.

“I got the long run up to about a 22-mile run,” says Goff, who works in UNCG’s Division of Student Affairs. “Each week I added a little at a time. I did some tempo runs, didn’t go too crazy on the speed work. I had a lot of confidence and had fun with it.”

“Fun” is a word that pops up often with the Greensboro resident.

“As much as I love running, I didn’t want it to get in the way of other things I have going on,” she says. “I never want running to be a chore. I made sure it was always fun. If I needed an extra day off, I would take it. I relaxed through it as much as I could.”

Goff took a cautious approach early in Saturday’s race, hooking up with a pace group that would’ve escorted her to the finish line in 3:15.

“I just wanted to see how it felt,” she says.

But she felt so good, she says, that she’d find herself a few steps ahead of the group and drawing the pacer’s admonitions.

“You’re going to regret it later.”

“Take it easy.”

But at 11 miles, her positive split from the pace group led to a negative split in the race.

“I just didn’t say anything,” she says. “I really, really appreciated -- his name was Dave -- keeping me in check. But when I started to go, I picked it up so drastically he just let me go. My next mile I had dropped about 30 seconds in one mile."

As her training plan and the getaway indicate, Goff likes to go out on her own. She enjoys the company of group runs, and she met her husband, Mike, when both ran for Lehigh. But running time is Goff’s time.

“It’s my time to think about what I want, go where I want to go, go as fast or as slow as I want, to burn off steam if I have any to burn off,” she says. “It’s my time to myself every day.”