Well it’s about that time.  This Sunday I’m running in the 3M Half Marathon from the north end of Austin to downtown.  My original plan up until now has been to run it under control, with no real goal time in mind.  Taking it easy would be the smart, responsible, reasonable approach for this tune-up race.  For one thing, I have a bigger fish to fry (Austin Marathon) coming up and I haven’t been training particularly hard for a speedy race.  So it seems fairly obvious what I should do, right?.  Right?

Wrong!  My new plan is to bust this race open.  Conditions are falling into place to make for a killer finish time.  First and foremost, the race route is almost all downhill.  After an initial bump, I’ll be able to let gravity do a lot of the work.  Second, the weather should be relatively cooperative with a 30% chance of rain (read: cloudy) and temperatures in the low 50s.  And finally, I’m getting pretty amped up for running a fast race.  After some good training runs (along with decent success in the pool) I’m feeling ready to go big or go home*.

As for my goal there are really only ever two: beat my previous personal best and beat Colin’s previous personal best.  For 3M, based on the lack of focused training, I’m only confident in goal number one.  If I were a betting man, I’d say Colin’s ridiculously fast PR (1:31:00) is safe for another race.  My PR (1:35:28) from 2.5 years ago may (hopefully) finally fall.  By 8:20am on Sunday we should know if a new chapter in my half marathon career has been written.  Come back next week to find out how it turns out.

*Well, I actually get to go home either way, so why not go big, am I right?