I’ve got to be honest…

Tomorrow is the Wickedly Fast Half Marathon. Right now I’d like to punch whoever named it that in the face. I think a name like that was just bad luck. And that bad luck has been plaguing me since I got home from Napa. This was one of the races I was most looking forward to this year. Sure, it’s just a half marathon and I have more full marathons and even an ultra or two left to go this year, not to mention the fact that this year has already seen my first full marathon. Still, even with all of that, this was one I was really looking forward to. Last year this race was my first 5k. This year one of my goals was a sub-2 hour half marathon. This was the target race for that. After I got home from Napa I decided that I would join the 1:45 pace group and I set up a great training plan to get me to that goal. Then the bad luck kicked in. I’ve gotten sick, I’ve had allergies, my dog’s had a stroke, I’ve injured my foot, etc. That figures. In fact, here are my weekly mileages since Napa:

·         3/7-3/13 = 16.11 miles

·         3/14-3/20 = 35.94 miles

·         3/21-3/27 = 37.02 miles (2 runs over 10 miles)

·         3/28-4/3 = ZERO miles

·         4/4-4/10 = 31.8 miles (1 run over 10 miles)

·         4/11-4/15(today) = 3.85 miles (only 1 run)

It’s been inconsistent to say the least. I’ve only had 3 runs that have been over 10 miles. My foot is much better, but still far from 100%, in fact the race was still in question until I got the final go-ahead from my doctor on Wednesday. Well, as if all of that were not enough, I checked the forecast this morning for race time tomorrow. Oh boy, not exactly ideal for me. I’m a warm weather guy, actually scratch that, I’m a hot weather guy. I’m the guy you hate, the one that says, “it sure is nice out” when it’s 90 degrees and the sun is shining. The race starts at 7 am tomorrow morning, for the last several weeks it’s been high 50’s to high 60’s at that time of day, perfect for a race! Tomorrow does not look like it will be so cooperative. It is supposed to be 38 degrees and 25+ mph winds. Nice, thanks for that. I HATE running in extra clothes, I like shorts and a sleeveless shirt because I sweat a lot, so more clothes gets heavy and uncomfortable. It looks like I don’t have much choice for tomorrow.

So what’s left for me to do? Too many negative things have happened for me to honestly say that I’m excited about this race at all anymore. In fact, I’d rather just skip it all together. But that is NOT going to happen. I can’t accept that. I have lowered my expectations quite a bit, I’m now planning on joining the 1:55 pace group in hopes of keeping it in my syb-2 hour goal, but I won’t be surprised after all of this if I just can’t keep up. I’m going to give it my best shot and see what happens. It’s sad to see this race go from one that I was so excited about to one that I’m running because I already paid for it. That’s life. I love running; there is no question of that. But, as with life, things don’t always go your way. All you can do is try hard, give it your best and see what happens. If I don’t hit my goal I’ll move on and set my sights on the next half to achieve it. I just need to spend today getting my head back where it needs to be for tomorrow and just deal with whatever comes my way.