I read a few other blogs on a pretty consistent basis - http://www.priorfatgirl.com/ and http://dooce.com/ - both ladies are doing some impressive running. So the bug to get on the road again has hit. And hard. I did a 4 mile run on the treadmill tonight, and realized I need to give myself the OK to go run a road race - even though I have not ran the distance (6.2 miles) yet in my training. Cross training, to be exact. Cycling still comes first!
Sunday the bike will take a back seat to the running shoes. I'm lacing them up to run:
I was thinking the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving would be my first "official" race (more run than race for me I'm sure!) - but there is no guarantee I will be off that day. And IBM is advertised as the fastest course in Austin - which usually means flat. There are some "rolling hills" which I know, since it's going to start near The Domain, Megan's fav shopping center in town. I'll probably have to bribe her somehow to come and take some pictures! The rumors are that this is the last year IBM will be ran on this course, and I never ran this before back in my "serious" running days (2007-2008).
I have a pretty simple goal - run my own race at my own pace. To finish, and to be gentle with myself. I don't weigh 180 like I did back in 2007. I have not trained like I did back then, and I have a different outlook on running now. I want to take it easy on the knees - more than likely only at most 2 races a month on pavement - and just concentrate on enjoying the experience. I always loved the nervous butterflies at the start of a race, and finding someone to "shadow" that was running my pace. Preferably something in pigtails and pink. And female, cuz that is how I roll. The feeling after a race was always what I loved most, the sense of accomplishment heightened by the flood of endorphins. And bananas! After a race I crave them, and at no other time does that EVER happen.
I'm already excited!
Oh, and if everyone else jumped off a cliff, yeah I probably would too. If there was water below.
