Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

6 @ 7:57 pace.  Legs and lungs felt like it was 8:20s.  Promising...

Less-than-promising is my stupid hip.  It stops hurting when I run or sit down.  Walking around, it acts weird.  I have no idea, even with all my Googling, what it is.  Anything from hip flexor strain, to IT band, to snapping hip (it only snaps in the morning a couple times).  Anyway, whatever it is, it feels better after a minute of walking or jogging.  Also found out it goes away with ibuprofen.  So I won't worry about it for the race - probably just paranoia at this point.

Rest day today.

Weather is looking pretty decent for OKC.  Maybe a 10-12 mph wind but nice temperature, and it's looking like it may even be a crosswind for most of the course.  If my hip will just continue to do ok once I get it moving, that 1:45 should be mine...

8:04 average pace, most of it begrudgingly.  The last 4 or so were HMP but it took a lot more effort today in the early-morning hours.  Finally felt like running around mile 5.

With the race at 6:30 on Sunday morning, I've decided I'll wake up early, at 4:30 or so, to trick my body into thinking it's 8:30 at racetime.  Might even do that Saturday morning too so I'm nice and tired Saturday evening.  Faster paces seem to come so much easier after I've been up a couple hours and my rhythms are more in sync.

No real change in my hip.  Almost thinking it's my upper thigh now but I can't find any good info either way.  Oh well, like I said - no pain once it gets warmed up.  Will figure it out after the race.

Wind forecast for OKC keeps increasing.  Pretty sure it'll be in the teens now but still WNW means mostly crosswind for the course.

3 warmup miles, then 1 @ 5K pace, 1@ HMP, 1 cooldown.  Just trying to feel a little pain for the last time before my HM, and get a little stress under that HMP mile.  The 5K mile ended up being 6:32, then followed it up with a 7:52 HM mile (7:57 avg pace for the entire run).  I'm pretty sure I oversped the 5K pace but it felt really smooth and relaxed - it also dropped in elevation 40 ft or so, but hey I'm trying to build my confidence here.  By the end of the fast mile I knew it probably wan't 5K pace, more like 2-mile pace but whatever, still felt really great.  Takin' it easy the rest of the week.

5 @ 8:16 pace.  Middle mile was a blind race pace mile (not looking at Garmin) at 7:54, so I think I'll be fine without GPS.

Wind forecast looks a little more reasonable now for OKC - maybe 10-12 mph at racetime.  It looks like it might work out to be a headwind on the first half which has some downhill and a tailwind on the second half which has 3 tough uphill miles (9, 10 and 11).  I think that's probably the ideal wind direction.

Easy pace (watch was packed already but maybe 8:30s).

Wind forecast for racetime hours in OKC -- NW @ 14 mph, so a definite headwind on the first half of the race.  We'll see what happens but I'll try not to get bent out of shape over 8:00+ miles into the wind and just try to make it up later.

We hit the road today for my in-law's house (5 hours) then make the 5-hour drive from there to OKC early on Saturday.

We woke up at 4:30 as planned and crept out of my in-law's house and are now relaxing at the hotel.  We did the expo and checked out the OKC Memorial which was cool.  Wind forecast is down to 12 mph and a bit more westerly (more crosswind, less head/tailwind) so good on both counts.  Will post about the race probably tomorrow night or Monday, but my bib is H525 in case anyone feels like looking me up earlier.