Not sure I should even post this

Seeing how I have a history of bailing out of the majority of the running races I mention. I was considering not even posting about this Saturday's 5K race until I had finished it. The weather is still making it questionable for me. I’m going to sign up the morning of the race because of that. (I know, lame excuse)
I have some things on my mind about it though, so I figured I might as well post.

Earlier this week, I was actually feeling kind of tense about the race. I realized it was because I was placing expectations on myself. I guess I don't handle that well.
It took me awhile, but I think I've got myself back to my normal approach. Get to the race, be confident that I've trained and tapered well. Stay relaxed mentally and enjoy the race.
Here is one thing I’m going to do differently from my last race. I won't be looking at my watch to check splits. I did that at Tewksbury. All it did was make me think I was going to fail at any minute because it was faster than I thought I was capable. I guess I don't know my capabilities? Maybe that's a good thing. I wonder how many people line up and think about the pace they are expecting to finish in, and then do exactly that and no better.
Or what if you look and it’s slower than you were expecting. It’s not like you can go back and fix it. I suppose you could run harder the rest of the way out to make up for it, but that doesn’t make sense to me either. I would think that if you are already giving your best effort, pushing harder might just lead to an even less desirable result.
Then there is the fact that you really can’t trust the placement of the mile markers anyhow. I’d trust my Polar watch/ footpod more, unless there are a lot of hills.

I just figured I’d write that all out because I’m guessing after I run my first 5K race, I’ll then have the experience of it and my point of view may change completely.

Lastly, How am I feeling physically going into this race? After last Saturday & Sunday’s hill runs, I’ve taken it very easy. 3 miles on both Tuesday and Thursday, very easy pace with a few very brief faster runs. I just wanted to feel how the legs were going to respond to a faster pace. I seem to feel the best I’ve been in a month. Still a little hesitant to accelerate but able to hold a good speed once I get there. My other concern was that after my Tuesday run in the cold. I had a bit of asthma. It isn’t going to be cold Saturday. I don’t expect it will be a problem.
Even as I wrote that last paragraph, I started to think about the fact I haven’t practiced properly for this race. Hey. Brain. Give it up. The race is tomorrow, we are going to take what we can get. Don’t be upset with results that don’t even exist yet. Besides, it’s my first 5K, I can’t help but have a Personal Record at the end of the day. Ha!