race week

(almost race day)

greetings from LA. this is my last trip to the west coast until february and i’m pretty excited about the reduction on my flight time. and i’ll be heading back just in time to warm up again when i’m tired of winter. i get a real dose of the cold next week on my trip to chicago. i’m cold just thinking about it. or maybe it’s because i’m sitting under the air conditioning vent at LAX.

this saturday i’ll tie up my laces (although i don’t actually tie my shoes, i just pull them on) and run the kiawah half marathon. i’m excited. i’m nervous. i want to have  a great run. alex and i bit the bullet and bought gps’s for an early christmas present. he loves his. i’m having a little trouble figuring out the details of mine but i’m getting closer and i think i’ve got it figured out now. i will not let it beat me. i teach technology for a living damnit.

i’ve trained up to 12 miles which means that race day will be the first time i’ve ever run 13.1 miles. that’s very scary to me. i’m trying to mentally break the race into mini races so that it doesn’t feel so long. because running for 2+ hours is daunting enough i try not to think about the mileage itself. my co-workers have been extremely supportive and have run with me on my 8 miler last thursday and 5 miler today. they’re awesome like that. and they don’t make me run super fast. that makes them super awesome.

i’m also focusing on my post race dinner of south carolina’s best oysters at bowens island. this time in 48 hours i’ll be sipping a cold beer (hopefully) celebrating my first half completion. i’m going to be sipping the cold beer regardless.