I think I am ready!

I won't lie...I had my doubts about whether I would be in shape in time. I have been following the Hal Higdon training plan, but I was struggling. I felt really out of shape and not impressed with my progress. Fortunately, I have noticed significant improvement over the last few weeks. The first few weeks of the plan only call for shorter 2-3 mile runs. I had a hard time with those distances because I didn't have my wind yet, which made a much longer distance seem unattainable. However, now that I am up to 5 miles three days a week and a longer 7-10 miles on the weekend, I am feeling much more confident. I did 8 miles comfortably last Sunday and am planning for 9 or 10 this Sunday. This is slightly ahead of Hal's plan, because he only takes you up to 10 miles. I really want to have at least one 11 or 12 mile run in prior to the race. Now that I have the mindset that 5 miles is a "short" run, the longer distances don't seem too daunting.

My next phase is to work on my pace. I finished 5 miles this morning with an 8.06 minute/mile pace. My goal will be to finish with an 8.25 minute/mile pace, which puts me across the finish at just under 1 hour, 50 minutes. My stretch goal will be an 8 minute/mile pace, which gets me there in under 1 hour, 45 minutes. All that said, I will consider any time under 2 hours a success. After all, a lot can happen between the Y and the beach.

I am planning on driving up to Warren next Friday for a weekend with my family. I will be solo because I need the space coming home. My sibs and I will be helping my mom clear my dad's things out of the house. It has been almost 5 years since he passed and she is finally ready to take that step. Anyway, while I am there, I will check out the first leg of the race. I thought I heard from somewhere that we will be running up Hemlock and crossing the damn, but I can't say for sure. It makes sense, because I can't see them closing down or otherwise impeding traffic on that stretch of Rte 59.