DoomsDerry

You know, I don't bag out on races too often, and I'm not going to bag out on tomorrow. But I'm not feeling too confident about this one either. Not sure what shoes to run in. I tried some Brooks Cascadias a month ago and they felt pretty good, but then my right hip started acting up in a way it never has before. Normally I run in Sauconys but I'd worn out all my Grid Excursions. I had a pair of Grid Sinisters in the box so on the last Cal trip I tried those. My hip seemed better and I like the shoes, but they're pretty minimalist for a trainer/distance shoe. Not much more to them than my Fastwitch 3s. The last long run was mostly on concrete sidewalks and now my left foot (with the history of issues) is acting up a bit. I got some Excursions at the outlet Thursday night, but they're a half size bigger than what I normally buy. I tried them the other day and they seemed ok with winter running socks but I can't feel great about them after just one short run. It's going to be a game day parking lot decision I'm afraid.

This was/is supposed to be just a training run/race anyway. I went back and looked at my 2008 data. From the photo there is not as much snow on the ground as I remembered. The times seemed to be about as fast as every other year too. I was a few pounds lighter then, so if the two seconds/mile/pound thing is correct, and I believe it is, then I'm going to be down by 8 seconds/mile right there. And in 2008 I was running better, as well as having the benefit of racing the Raynham 15k a week prior. So I guess I'm winging it here. I'll try not to be too slow, but I'm not going out fast either. Last time I somehow managed to keep my heart rate 2 bpm below threshold the entire race. That's 158 bpm for nearly two hours. I never do that. The thought of pushing that hard for that long is one of the things wigging me out right now. I had been thinking that with clear roads I'd just be cruising along here and knocking 3 minutes off my 2008 time without even trying. Now I'm realizing that maybe I made a somewhat special effort back then and I'll be lucky to finish within five minutes of that.

Of course, mostly this is a test to see if something on my body falls apart. If I can get through this without issue then I'll really be psyched for Paddy Kelly, Foxboro, and then maybe a half in March. Brimming with confidence here, I know. Thanks for reading.