Less Than 48 Hours

The countdown is on. Saturday morning, 7:00 AM, I will be taking off on a 13.1 mile expedition as I run my first ever half marathon. All the training has taken place. Now I'm in the day of making sure I get plenty of rest, so that my legs have plenty of energy to take in the whole distance.

Yes, being the person I am, and being married to the one to whom I am, you can imagine that I have a strategy. That includes research, and especially helpful have been hints from a magazine called "Runners", which published a special on half marathons about 3 months ago. So, what's my plan, you ask? I'm glad you asked.

I will wake up early on Saturday, probably around 5:30, and start doing some stretching. I want to make sure my lower back, thighs, hamstrings, and calves are well stretched and warmed up. Once I take the bus up to the starting point (which leaves me about 45 minutes prior to the race), I will probably do some light jogging and/or fast walking, simply to get the blood flowing. Then, it will be race time!

My goal is to run the second half of the race faster than the first half. I will probably take about the first 6 miles or so at a pace of about 7 MPH. That has been the speed I used on my easy days of running, which doesn't use up a lot of energy. Then I plan to pick up the pace to about 7.5 MPH for the next 3-4 miles. That leaves me with about 3-3.5 miles to the end. During that time, I will gradually pick up pace, according to how I feel, but my hope is to average a little over 8 MPH over those last three miles.

That means that I hope to finish the 13.1 miles in roughly 1.5-1.75 hours. That means that around 8:30-8:45 MST on Saturday, I will have completed my first ever half marathon. When you consider that I have always hated distance running in the past, I will consider this a great achievement in my life. Check in sometime this weekend to see a few pictures of this great feat!