I get to race tomorrow!

I haven't been able to do a race since May 20th, a loooong (almost) 6 months ago.  Stupid broken heel killed my summer racing plans.  But tomorrow is a day for celebration as I get to return to racing.

I kind of want to put racing in quotation marks because I am s.l.o.w.  And tomorrow's race is a 10k.  My longest training run has been 5.7 miles, which included 5 min of walking at the start and 5 min of walking at the end.  Not exactly "racing a 10k" in the slightest.

Hopefully I will discover that I am in better shape than I think I am.  Hopefully.

Tomorrow's plan (per my coach) is this:

• 20 minute warmup.  This will be interesting because I NEVER warm up for a race.  Ever.  And the warmup is almost 1/3 of the time I'll be racing.  But that's why I've hired a coach.  We'll do what she says and I may be suprised.
• Mile 1 - take it easy
• Mile 2 - go slightly faster
• Mile 3 - go even more slightly faster
• Mile 4-6 - RACE.  But keep focus on form and if anything hurts, back off.

My goal time is ~1:07, which is an 11 min/mile pace.  Considering most of my runs have been MAF runs with a ~12:30 pace and HR limit of 142, going 1:30/mile faster will be interesting.  I did a 2 mile test run yesterday at that pace and it was a bit hard, so we'll see if I can sustain it for another 4 miles.

The good part is that I've somehow never done a 10k before, so no matter what, I will PR. :)

Really, this is just a test to see how I do with some speed and a medium distance race.  I have no expectations other than to just enjoy being able to run and to race.  That's it.  Just have fun.  (and not die)

The other fun thing about tomorrow is that it is Will's first 5k.  Woo hoo!  I was hoping that our races would start at the same time, so I could run the first half of his race with him.  But the race is dumb and the 5k goes at 9 AM and the 10k goes at 10:30.  Dumb!  So I will show up at the 5k time and cheer on my club-mates and husband and take some photos.  Then I will do my warmup and my race.  Weird set up but that's what we've got.

Hurray for racing!