Wednesday, June 6, 2012

I Suppose I Should Address That Race I'm Running This Weekend

First off, Happy National Running Day! I got in a quick 2 miles this morning (I'm tapering, sue me - and I did over an hour of lifting first - too bad it's not national p90x day.)

Tapering - yea, that. For Lake Placid. Which is Sunday.

Real life running folks have made comments that I haven't said much about LP. Am I excited for it? kind of. I'm nervous. 1. Because my last half went badly and I really don't want this one too. 2. I remember that GD hill at the end and it sucks ass - last time I was at least blissfully ignorant of how much it would hurt. not just the hill, all of it. Last year LP was my first half marathon of life! One year later and it is my 4th. Not a bad year if you ask me. 3. I'm nervous because on the other side of LP is the start of marathon training. Yes, I have tweeted that I've started getting excited about it - 'tis true. However, I'm also nervous about it. Wouldn't you be? 26.2 freaking miles. wtf is my problem?!

Goals - goals goals goals. Honestly, I have no idea what a time goal might be for lake placid. I haven't been training for any specific time - though I have had a few bad ass paces on a couple of long runs ( sub 11:20s) and I have done my longest run of life -14.25 miles - during this training cycle. Ideally, I'd just like to do better than I did on this course last year. Which means below 2:36. Closer to 2:30 would be magnificent.

HOWEVER, my real goal is to make it from start to finish with the fewest negative thoughts possible. I really beat myself up at the last half, and that negativity is still lingering a bit. So, walking away from this race feeling positive is my A goal. While that seems lame compared to people's "push the pace" A goals that are usually posted - I think I've pretty much narrowed down my main challenge to my mental game. And that bitch needs to get in line if I'm going to run a full marathon. And, quite honestly, the paces won't see a significant decrease if I don't actually believe I can do it. So, mental game is where I'm at.

I am sad to report that run-buddy Natalie will not be joining me for this race. We are super bummed that she has a recurring not-yet-official injury in the calf/Achilles area. Since she may or may not have the beginnings of the full-marathon run itch again, it's probably best that she sit this hilly beast out and try to figure out what's going on there.

In other news, I need new shoes after this race. Someone please remind me to go to fleet feet next weekend :)