Beware of Wrong Turns

Today was my quick run, and also the last run before my first (EVER) 10k!  I’m getting pretty excited about the race, although they are saying it might rain.  I’ve had the good fortune of avoiding rain throughout my training runs for the most part.  I’m prepared to run through whatever is thrown at  me; it is just a slight concern that the conditions are going to be a little different.

So what is this 10k?  It is called “Jazz in the Woods.”  It is in a local business park and along some nearby park trails.  I say local, but it is actually about 40 minutes from where I live, so there will be a bit of a drive to get there.  It is within a festival of the same name that celebrates, well, jazz music.  There is supposed to be musicians along the path playing jazz, although I’m not sure if that’ll come to fruition with the rain (if that happens).  Perhaps the jazz will turn into the blues if that is the case.  It sounds fun to me all in all, and it is part of my progressive build up to longer races and my goal of the St. Louis Rock and Roll Half Marathon in October. 

What is my plan?  I know that I’ll need some walk breaks to make it through.  My current max continual run is probably a little over four.  I’m planning on trying to take a one minute break every mile, which I think might coincide with the aid stations (I believe they have aid stations every mile; I’ll hopefully find out more at packet-pickup tomorrow).  I’m not sure if that’ll be enough, but hopefully the course is also relatively flat to help me out (it is in Kansas, so there is hope!  I’m saying a lot in parentheses, I noticed).  We’ll see how it works.  I’d like to turn in a time of less than 1 hour and 10 minutes, although I’m not really focused on time.  I should simply be trying to finish the race, which I’m confident I can do. 

So how did the 3 miles go this morning?  Well enough, except that I took a new route and then a wrong turn!  As a result, after 3 miles I was still about a mile and half from home.  So I timed 5k, then walked and ran a little bit the rest of the way.  When you miss your turn during a run, that is a bit more of a problem than when you miss it driving somewhere!  Over the 5k part I pushed to go too fast.  I don’t know why I did this, but it gassed me out a little too quickly and I had to stop for a minute before I got to 3 miles.  I was blessed with fantastic weather this morning.  The humidity didn’t seem high and it was in the high 60’s during my run.  I got the run in and now I feel ready for a rest day and then ready for the 10k. 

So here’s to the 10K…I’m excited!

Enjoy your progress,

Travis