Alright, folks, the race is a mere 40 hours away and it’s just now starting to set in. The expo is opening today at 3pm and the “This is the Final Pre-Race Email” emails are hitting my inbox. Facebook is all a-twitter with updates from the local running stores and Twitter is all a-facebook with similar tweets. So with the race this weekend, let’s set some goals to hold me moderately accountable, shall we?
Racing Hat: Texas Edition
Round 1 of the Cap10K team tryouts for my company’s competitive team were today. Originally everything was set for March 2nd, but I opted to run today when an earlier date was offered to accommodate another runner who would be out of town in March. As I mentioned, I chose today because I thought it would give me a better chance than after running a marathon. The question is, how’d it go?
Foreshadowing
Oh it hurts so bad. Can you feel it? The dagger from the Boston Athletic Association just stabbed me in the face. They took the holy grail of running and made it even harder to reach. What does this do to a runner like me? Not much, besides crush my spirits and seemingly invalidate all my hard work up to this point.
Before I begin, you’ll need to remember a few things. First, I’m running the Austin Marathon on February 20th (yes, a mere 11 or so days from now). Second, I’m going to be trying out for my company’s competitive corporate team for the Capitol 10K Race. The race is on March 27th, but the tryouts are slated for March 2nd. Now that we’re all up to speed, I’d like to share some new information that has come to my attention and could change everything*.
Last
night, after work, in the midst of some Arctic air moving through the Central Texas area, I went for a run. Going for a run, even in cold weather, isn’t news, particularly on this blog. The motivation for heading out, however, was important to me.
Ah, the sweet sound of crushing Colin victory. This past Sunday I ran the 3M Half Marathon right here in Austin. Meant to be a tune-up race for the Austin Marathon, I didn’t have a goal when I first registered. That changed last week when I decided to go for a new personal record (1:35:11). Well, the morning of the race that changed to seeing exactly how fast I could run the race (and how close could I get to Colin’s current PR of 1:31:49). How’d things go? Let’s find out!
I’m saying it right here and now: Derrick is going to beat Oprah. On February 20, 2011, the Austin Marathon will take over the streets of Texas’ capital. This will be Derrick’s second 26.2, and if you ask him, his goal is to break 5 hours. If you ask me, he’s going to come in under 4:29:15. Why that specific time? Because that’s what it took Oprah to run the Marine Corps Marathon in 1994. Only time will tell.
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?
Texas weather has proven itself to be a bit fickle lately. Back when I lived and ran in the nation’s capital, I knew what to expect each morning for entire seasons at a time. Winter was particularly predictable: cold, dark, terrible, character-building. Well, here in Texas it’s a toss up. I thought I’d share my two outfits man-clothes from back-to-back days from last week.
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Selfish. Greedy. A bit self-centered even. Mainly selfish though. That’s what I’m feeling right now after receiving an email from the Blood Center of Central Texas. Apparently there is a shortage of Type O, and you’re looking at 10 tall pints of O-positive right here. So why the self-deprecating adjectives to start things off? Well, because it’s my blood and you can’t have it!
