Race Week!!!

Next Saturday I’m running my first-ever half marathon.  My training is going very, very well, including a sub-9 min mile in one of my most recent training runs.  Even though I’m guaranteed a PR since I’ve never raced at this distance, I still want to have a good time, consistent with my training.  Under 2 hours, 30 minutes is very reachable.

However, it is still way over Boston Marathon qualifying pace, which is my ultimate goal.  My training was hit and miss over the past couple of months, so while I know I’m in good shape, I’m not where I want to be—great shape.  Of course, life is what happens when you’re trying to make plans.  Learning how to roll with the punches—and still succeeding—is part of this quest.

I signed up for the Chicago Marathon as well, and put down that I would break five hours.  Since my marathon PR is 5:39, I’m hoping to shave nearly an hour off my time.  It is going to take hard work and discipline to take that amount of time off my PR, and I am ready for that challenge.  Starting with pre-race prep….

The week before the race, the taper week, is about rest.  Visualization will play a big part of this week, as I watch YouTube videos of the course.  (Again, I feel like saying, “In my day, we had to pull from our memory banks because we didn’t have course videos we could play as we fell asleep.”)  Loading up on carbohydrates and water is also in the plan for the week.

I have to drive up to packet pick up the night before the race, then drive home for a good night’s sleep.  I will probably just have a protein bar with lots of water for dinner, then get up very early so I have plenty of time to drink my coffee and make the start corral after the requisite post-coffee bathroom breaks.  After 25 years, I think I’m more nervous about making my start corral than actually running.

In a long race, the adrenaline has to be tempered in the first few miles, because going out too fast causes “boinking,” or tiring out early in the race, unable to finish at pace.  I’m running with a friend who has offered to pace me, but I really, really have to do an 11:15 first mile.  That has me nervous as well, since I’ve felt so good on my runs that my first mile has been pretty fast.  It will be my focus on the final taper/shakeout runs this week.

So carbs, water, shakeout runs, and visualization.  Race week, here we go!