Counting Down

OBJECTIVE
2 mi. jog
4 x 100 meter strides @ 5K pace (6:31/mi.)

ACHIEVED
2.03 mi.@ 8:42/mi.
112 m. 22.45 (5:22/mi.)
112 m. 24.67 (5:54/mi.)
112 m. 23.81 (5:42/mi.)
112 m. 23.90 (5:43/mi.)

My legs felt good this morning. However, I'm feeling a bit bloated from 2 days of carbo loading.

I studied the course yesterday and this morning. It looks challenging with some pretty good up's and down's in the 300 to 400' range. It levels out through the middle then climbs until Mile 19 before dropping to the finish. It's going to be a lot more hilly than anything I run on around here. I'm guessing it will be somewhat like the hills in Conroe. (My last run there was a strong one.)

The issue at the moment is that there are only 300 marathon entries remaining to be sold at the Expo. I don't really think there are that many runners going to jump into the marathon. But I am concerned that there are that many who may buy up the remaining entries with the intention of just dropping out and running the half. Stayed tuned ....

I'm having some negative thoughts .... Just the same old stuff .... How can I run that far? How can I run that fast? How can I run that fast that far? It's hard to imagine .... etc etc. So I'm combating those thoughts with the Billy Mills clip and just a general reality check. Over the past four months I have set PR's at the following distances:

marathon - St. George
10 mile - Ten for Texas
10K - Dana Point Thanksgiving Day Run
half marathon - Houston

The conversion tables for my last three race finishes put my marathon potential at 3:15-16. In addition, this has been a very good training cycle for me. I am fit and I'm ready.

Stay tuned. I'm planning to blog remotely so I'll probably have a bunch of short entries over the next day.

PRE RUN
weight = 158
apple juice & multivitamin

POST RUN
water, oatmeal w/brown sugar, flax & skim milk