Festival Eve

So here we are, finally less than a day away from the beginning of the running portion of the Baltimore Running Festival. Really that’s the entire Festival and the Health and Fitness Expo is just tacked on to get more money from non-runners. Nonetheless, Annie and I will be going over to the Expo after work today to do some serious shopping for shorts, shirts, socks, etc. I’m taking about $70 in cash to blow on running gear, which I am really excited about because I’ve been holding off on buying any new running stuff for about 2 months now. Technical T-Shirt for $10? Don’t mind if I do!

I’m feeling good about my race tomorrow. Yes, I know it’s just 3.1 miles but I’ve been looking forward to this 3.1 miles all summer. It’s been one of my long term goals since I started running as a hobby back in June and even so despite the shortness of the race, the fact that I have kept to a training regimen that has not only kept me in good enough shape to complete 3.1 miles, but has allowed me to modestly improve both my distance and speed. Running in the festival tomorrow is a major milepost (running pun alert! God I am so clever!) on my path towards the National Half Marathon in March. Of course there will be other races between tomorrow and March 29, 2008, but the Running Festival was the first really big goal I set back in June. I knew that I didn’t want to push myself from being a non-runner to being a half marathoner in 4 months. I wanted to take my time and make my first 13.1 miles really rewarding. I’d rather struggle to complete 3.1 miles in July ( see my race report for the Run to Cooperstown 5K) than struggle to complete 13.1 in March.

I have a good feeling about my time tomorrow. I’ve been running solidly in the low 9 minutes per mile range for a couple weeks now and my body doesn’t feel tired, nor have I had any serious injuries beyond some aches and pains to deal with since the blisters and arch pain back in August. My super awesome new Brooks Adrenaline GTS shoes have helped keep me in the game. I’m taking today off to fully rest my legs, which were still sore yesterday from walking down 34 flights of stairs and then running. Today they feel good and should be 100% by tomorrow. I’m not doing anything tonight except for going to the Expo and then maybe going to a dinner party (they’re serving pasta, so at least I’ll get some good fuel for the furnace!).

There is a group of people from my office who are running the 5K tomorrow as well, so part of my goal is to finish in front of most of them if at all possible (I think I could compete in just about anything). They’re meeting at the office around 7:30 to head over to the Festival, so Annie and I will meet up with them as well since the office is on the way to M&T Bank Stadium. She’ll be my official photographer so hopefully I’ll have lots of pictures to add to my online album after the weekend.

Other than that, I’m just going to prepare for the race and enjoy the experience.

On another note, there is a great Op-Ed in today’s New York Times written by an Olympic Marathon champion about the conditions at Chicago last weekend. I agree with his points about amateur runners learning to listen to their bodies in those conditions, but also the possible steps that could be taken at future events where heat and humidity become the main factors on the course. Check it out.

After the race tomorrow, Annie and I are going to hang out for a bit at the Festival but then we have a 4 PM flight to Cincinnati to spend a long weekend doing some wedding planning. As a result, don’t look for a full race report until Monday at the earliest. However, Tuesday evening is probably more realistic since we don’t get back until Tuesday afternoon.