How about some goals?

Oh man…. The A1A Half is only FOUR DAYS AWAY!!! How did we get here?

I guess it’s time to talk about some goals.

I feel like I’ve been talking about this race forever. I had planned to run a half marathon back in October, but pushed things off due to injury. So… here we are. I am feeling ready, nervous, scared, excited and pretty much every other emotion about this race I could think of. I’ve put a lot of work into it and I’m flying across the country to run it (and to see my parents, of course). But I guess it’s time to think about some goals for the race.

a) Finish in less that 2:00

b) Finish in less than 2:15

c) Finish the race

Honestly, anything could happen out there. I ran my last 10 mile long run at 9:41 pace, which would have had me finishing around 2:07. I felt like I could have gone harder after that run and finished 13 miles around 2:05. In fact, I spent the whole time chatting away with my roommate. Had the race been sunday, I probably could have made an attempt to break 2:00. However, I don’t always feel that way. I’ve really had some mental battles in past races. I don’t fuel well the night before or in the morning. I usually get a little upset to my stomach and I’ve have terrible side stitches.

But, man, I have lucked out with the weather for this race.

I was worried because my training has been in South Bend, Indiana, where the temps run uncomfortably cold and you have to run more than 4 miles to break a serious sweat. But the A1A Half is going to be happening during a cold front in Fort Lauderdale! My parents will sure be miserably cold watching me, but I’m going to be one happy camper while I race.

I ran a nice comfortable 4 miles yesterday and today I’ll be going out with my running group at the local store. Tomorrow is my last run, just 2 miles, and then the next time I lace up is for the half!

Have you ever run a race and had no idea what pace you’d be at? Has weather ever completely changed your race day plans?