The spring edition of Race Pace Training Diaries follows Jackie, a Race Pace Runner, on her journey of acheiving a big half marathon PR this spring. Learn more about Jackie and her goals here.
This is it. It’s race week. I’m nervous.
For the past 12 weeks I’ve been following along with the training spreadsheet Jess and I share online, and Race Week has been wayyyy down at the bottom of the page, highlighted in bright yellow. It always seemed so far away, a point on the horizon line that I’d never actually reach, but now I’m here, working my way through the yellow highlighted days, and the race is in three days. Cue mild panic!
The truth is, I feel really good about this race and my training. I’ve worked my butt off for three months and I’ve seen major improvements along the way. I’d like to say that my goal for Sunday is not to worry about the pace, or the distance, or the thousands of other runners around me and just enjoy every moment of it, but I’m a competitive person by nature and I’d be lying if I said my finish time doesn’t matter to me. With Jess’s help we readjusted my goal race pace to 8:30-8:45 minutes per mile – which will still be a real challenge for me! – and I’d really like to finish the race under 1:55. I’m not as fast as I’d like to be yet, but that’s what future races are for, right?
I’m a little anxious about the weather because it’s been so unpredictable in DC lately, but the forecast looks sunny for Sunday. It might be a little chilly at the start, so I may decide to bring some arm warmers that I can remove once I get warmed up. And with a 7:00am start time, I’m also concerned about transportation, but thankfully the metro will open early for the race so I can head downtown without stressing over where to park.
On race day you can follow along with my progress using TrackMy Run and my bib # 4224. Isn’t that a great race number? My husband is not a runner, so he didn’t fully appreciate my good fortune of having a palindrome for a bib number, but I’m happy about it.
Wish me luck!
Good luck with the race! The weather should be great, though a bit chilly
I am running on Sunday too! I guess I’m not nervous because I’m like, whatever happens, right? Blogger meetup tomorrow? Will I get to meet you in person!???
I’m sorry I didn’t see this note until after the race, Cheri! I hope you had a great time at the race — I definitely did!