Low 50s, gusty winds, wet streets. Easy run, w/ 4 strides (~50 m). This is the last run before Saturday; everything feels fine. :) There is an old Dilbert cartoon where some consultant is showing the engineers how some plan or product will work (I may have the details a bit off), and near the end of his presentation there is a slide that says, "Insert Miracle Here." I would like to make sure I'm not writing a race plan that looks like that, and that I don't communicate any such thing here on the blog. I was thinking about this on my run this morning. I know I've said "no time goal" for this race before, but -- in a dear and much appreciated mark of friendship -- some bloggers still seem to think I'm going to run fast on Saturday, maybe PR, maybe even BQ. (Isn't it hilarious that these acronyms have become verbs?) I guess I can't stop anyone from this generous and supportive viewpoint. And I really do appreciate your confidence! But, just so that I can have some peace of mind about this, I am going lay out my race plan in detail. Overall goals: having fun, negative split, enjoy the experience, keep it slow enough to recover quickly for training towards my "real" marathon in Oct., run the last 5 miles really strongly if possible.
My first 2-4 miles- nice and slow; take some pictures of the crowds. I may never race a big mega race again and if I have any chance of enjoying it, I think I must not "fight" it by worrying about my position or speed. Up to mile 13- still easy, no miles under 9:30. Miles 13-21- have a very steady pace between 9:30-10:10 Last 5 miles - speed up if I can, hold steady if I can't speed up. See you on the other side! :)
| 