Race Weekend

Alright people, its time.

Grading is done. Homework is done (until Friday after next, I think!). Plans are made. My bag is packed. My legs are (really) rested. My friends and family are all behind me, and I don't plan on letting anybody down. Lets do this thing!

Last night I was talking to my dad, and he surprised me by asking where do get materials to make signs for the race. This caught me completely off guard; my dad is mostly the type to stand by and clap and offer some words of encouragement, so this is huge! I think he's getting pretty excited about the race too! Which in turn does the very, very dangerous thing of feeding MY excitement!

This past week or so I've been swinging through excitement, fear, confidence, nervousness, pride (of my sister, she's come a long ways!), happiness, doubt; you name it, I've been there! The past few days I've been mastering the negative thoughts, and nothing but positive thoughts are going through my head; mentally, I'm ready to rock!

My hip is feeling perfect today, even walking up hills, and running across the street. Nothing is bothering it at all! And let me tell you, when I'm darting across the street -- I feel like I'm floating. My legs just do their thing and I go. Its the exact feeling I'm looking for during the first part of the race on Sunday; effortlessly floating along at 6:50 pace. I'm being realistic, though, and the effortless part is not going to last the whole race, but if it lasts the first half I'll be plenty happy! Physically, I'm ready to rock!

The last few days I've been really strict on my diet. Everything that goes into my body is fuel for the race, and thats the way I have to look at it. I think the only processed food that has gone into me since Tuesday has been the chocolate syrup in my chocolate milk. I've been having rice, pasta, cottage cheese, chocolate milk, OJ, fruit smoothies, clif bars, bananas, grapes, and apples. I guess the peanut butter and jelly I have for breakfast is probably the least healthy part of my diet this week, which isn't doing too bad! Dietarily (Shh, I can make up words if I want to), I'm ready to rock!

As I've said before, this has been one crazy year of training. I've fought with problems from my ankles up to my hip, ran through wind chills of -20 and heat indexes of 100. There have been runs with friends, runs against some pretty tough competition. In the process, I've set 3-4 PR's in the 5k, and one in the 15k! I think I even set a half marathon PR in training, but I don't count it if its not a race! In a few days, all my hard miles pay off even more than they already have.

Thanks again for all the support, you guys and gals are the best! Be ready for a race report in a couple of days!

Its go time!