Don't know if that's the name of a song, but it should be. Maybe a kick-ass AC/DC or Velvet Revolver (before they broke up) version would make its way onto my iPod.
Anyway, today I officially registered for the Baltimore Running Festival with my compnay serving as my corporate sponsor. I think if I multiplied the satisfaction I get from running the half marathon for free by about 30 million, I'll feel like Michael Phelps. At any rate, I got my entry form from corporate communications this morning and promptly filled it out and sent it off in the mail. It went out this morning and should be in Elkridge (the administrative HQ of the Baltimore Running Festival) by tomorrow. I'm so happy to finally be registered for the race, as the half is now more than 90% full. My entry should get me signed up just in time! The marathon is more than 90% full. The half has a limit of 7500 runners, while the marathon has a limit of 4000. That doesn't count the relay teams (750 teams of 4 runners each) and the 2500 in the 5K (the 5K is barely getting any play, though, with just 6% of the limit, 150 runners, signed up right now). In other words, Saturday, October 11th will see literally thousands of runners navigating the streets of Baltimore.
I remember running the 5K last year and how much fun I had. I was still pretty new to running at that point and had set the 5K as my third racing goal (after the Run to Cooperstown 5K and Bay Cafe 5K) for the year. The 5K was packed last year, and I would bet that once September hits that it'll fill up quickly as I can't imagine people wanting to run another race that weekend when they could run the main running event in Baltimore for the year. I remember not really knowing that in a race you should run your ass off rather than treat it as another training run, but that is something I've worked on all year as a result. I also remember watching the half marathon begin and seeing how excited people were as they set off. It was seeing that excitement that helped me set the goal to run the National Half Marathon that following March.
Hopefully we'll have weather like we did last year (cold in the morning, but sunny and a little breeze). I would really like to set a new PR for 13.1 miles and surpass my inaugural effort at the National Half back in March. The course itself is pretty flat, with the only hill coming out near Patterson Park. I am going to adjust my long run route to hit that hill every week so I can prepare and not be worried about it come October 11th.
Since I don't have to pay the $70 entry fee for the half marathon, that frees up some money for the Richmond Half in November. That will require an overnight trip as well, so if I hadn't been able to get into the Baltimore Half for free, I wasn't going to shell out another $60 for Richmond as well (and pay for a hotel room, gas, food, etc). However, I'll set aside a little money each pay period and should have the estimated $150-200 I'll need for the entire trip, including race registration. Annie is going to be performing up in PA that Saturday, so I don't think she'll be coming with me, but that's OK, as I'l going to go bare bones (can you say, Super 8?) and it's only a 24 hour trip anyway.
As far as training, I dragged myself out of bed this morning and got a simple tempo run in. I did one mile as a warmup and then did 2 miles around 8:00/mile before ending with another mile cool down. I was surprisingly not dead after running that fast pace (for me) for 2 miles and it felt good to get my pace down in that range. My legs are sore today, but they'll be fine. I will more than likely take tomorrow off, as we're flying out to Cincinnati in the late morning.
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