Weather - 31 degrees, cloudy, no wind. It felt good to run 3 easy miles without wind. Tomorrow is Da Deer Run 5 mile X-country race. It snowed about 3 inches last night, so it looks like the race will be run on snow. I have never run a race on snow, or for that matter, in the winter. Those two reasons joined together with my state of in-between fitness means I have no idea how I will fare. Last summer in the days leading up to a race I would imagine myself running a fast training run, and I would transfer that pace to an imaginary race - seeing myself running the course, plotting my pacing strategy, and kicking it hard the last mile. I was surprisingly accurate in my guesses of actual race times. For the 7.5 mile Lake Run in May, 2007, I thought it would be possible to average 7:00 minute miles for the race, and that is what I hit. But I don't have any real feel for tomorrow, so I won't even bother thinking about the 37 minute target time I would like to achieve. When I imagine running the race I see myself struggling with my lungs, and having to slow down, slow down. Not a good race image, but a lot of my training has been going that way, so there is no reason to think it will change for the race. Regardless, I am looking forward to having a fun time knocking myself out running through the winter woods! | 