Motivated by General Geekery

I’m so excited!  Race day is almost here.  This morning, I did my last run prior to the race.  Of course, I’m counting Friday night as part of the race, too.  What’s that?  You don’t know about Friday night?  Well, that’s probably because I haven’t written about it.  

Friday night at 7:00 PM is the Richmond Times Dispatch Kids Run.  Sarah is going to race, and I’ll be right along side her making sure she stays on pace and doesn’t wear herself out too quickly.  The race is one mile, around the Richmond Sports Backers stadium and parking lot.  She’s run a mile before, in the Jog-n-Walk program at school.  She, Christi, and Cooper get up every Thursday morning (today’s the last one) and go do laps at the school.  Sarah regularly does 8 laps, which equals a mile.   She’s also done a training run with me.  She ran that one in about 12 minutes, but had to walk quite a bit.  I let her set the pace that day, and I think I’ll try to make her go a little slower to start the race on Friday, because she wore herself out pretty quickly when we ran together. She was very excited, and I know that will only be amplified on race day!  I’m still expecting her to finish somewhere around 12 minutes, but hopefully she’ll be able to run it all–I know she was a little disappointed she didn’t run the whole way when we ran together.  Good luck Sarah!

Of course, I’m extra excited about Saturday.  My goal is to finish all 13.1 miles in less than 2 hours.  I’ve already achieved this goal at home, so I’m secretly hoping to finish MUCH faster!  Wait, I guess that’s not a secret anymore, is it?  

This morning I ran 2 miles (tapering, remember?) in 17″47′.  This was a very easy 8″47′ per mile pace, if I multiply that pace over 13 miles (which is optimistic), I’ll be at about 1:55 on Saturday.  Since 9″00′ was my goal pace, I think I’ll be in good shape for 2 hour goal.  Plus, the pace this morning was very easy.  I was never out of breath, and, like all my shorter runs, I really wanted to go further.  

The only thing about Saturday that doesn’t excite me is the weather.  Right now, they are calling for rain on Saturday morning.  I hopeweather.com is wrong.  I can run in just about any weather without complaining, but rain is the one I like the least.  Plus, I don’t want to get my iPod wet.  So, if it’s raining, my iPod won’t be going with me to track my run.  Maybe I’ll stick it in a zip lock bag in my pocket, that way I can still use it.  I’ve got to figure something out, because over 13 miles, music is usually key to maintaining my pace.

Do you want to know how I’m doing as I run the race?  You can sign up for e-mail or text alerts on the race website.  Or, leave a comment at der5er.com (or send me an e-mail) and I’ll sign you up.  They’ll send an e-mail when I reach the 10k mark (6 miles, just a little under half way) telling you how fast I’m running and then at the finish, with my final time.  

This evening, when I leave work, I’ll head over to the Arthur Ashe Athletic Center to pick up Sarah and my race packets!  The Health and Fitness Expo is also there.  You have to walk through most of it to get your race packect, but that’s ok, because I would have wanted to see everything anyway.  I’ve got Christi’s camera with me, and if I see anything neat, I’ll be sure to post the pictures here!