Thursday, June 05, 2008

Thoughts about this weekend

This will be another "first" for me on Saturday as I compete in my first timed race. I will be running a 1 KM loop for 6 hours and at the end of the 6 hours the KM's will be counted up to see how far I got. When I looked at the race results from last year there were people doing crazy distances (78 K) and moderate distances (40 K) so it's hard to know where exactly I'll end up.

The best part of the race is that I'll be rubbing elbows, or in this case running shoes, with some truly great trail runners. I'll run my own race but it will be nice to chat with some of the runners while I'm at it. I do plan to run with music but will try not to use it until the 2nd half of the race.

When I run in trail races it's easier to take walk breaks because of the hills that are there but with a road race I have to make sure that I take the time to stop and walk a little. Because I've never done this kind of race before I'll use the first hour to get myself warmed up and then start doing a regular walk break every 4-5 loops. It really doesn't matter to me how fast I go because everyone has to run for the same amount of time. This will be my 4th long distance race since April so it will be interesting to see what kind of effort I can put forth.

After this race I probably won't be doing another long race until July which will give me more time to just run for the enjoyment of it. The weather is getting warmer which is just what I love to run in. All I have to do is remember some of those long winter runs and you won't have to worry about me complaining about how hot it is.

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