ZENA ROAD RUNS 15K RACE PREVIEW

Course profile of the 15k race I am doing this Sunday, just north of Salem-Keizer.

This race has kind of snuck up on me, but fortunately I have been training well for it. Aside from my half marathon last summer in Coburg, it will be the longest race I will have done to date at 15k. By the end of this year it won't be anywhere near my 2nd longest race ever, but for now, that is where it ranks in my brief running career.

Fifteen kilometers is 9.33 miles, or the equivalent of running three 5k races back to back to back (duh). It's less than four miles short of a half marathon, so a 15k is nothing to sneeze at. I will be doing another one in a couple months, the Shamrock Run in March. Last year I did the 5k there (my second race ever) and set a goal to do the 15k this year.

Like the Shamrock, this course will be hilly, so I will have to temper my time expectation accordingly. It looks like the bulk of the hills are in the first 5k though, so it will be nice to get them out of the way early. The next 5k looks pretty much downhill and the final 5k is flatter although there are some small rolling hills. So it goes Uphill > Downhill > Flat. I think Shamrock goes Flat > Uphill > Downhill, which would be a little more difficult. So this will be good practice for that.

The cool thing about this race is that it only cost $10! Looks to be fairly well set up and organized too. So I am excited to go out there and give it a whirl. Looks like it will be a run along the shoulders of country roads, much like the aptly named Run In The Country. I know it will be a challenge for me, running race pace for 9 miles over a hilly course, but this why I run, to test my abilities and strive to get better. I can run nine miles no problem, it will just be a matter finding the optimal pace that will give me my best time!

Race Goals:

"A" Goal: Run a sub 1:15:00. That is under 8 minutes/mile. Considering I just barely squeaked that out during the Runs for Cookies 5k on a hilly course, I think that is a good "A" goal; that is the equivalent of three sub 25 minute 5Ks. I would be thrilled with this time.

"B" Goal: Run a sub 1:20:00. That is about 8:30/mile. I am having a hard time gauging this run because of the hills. I am not sure how brutal those first three miles are going to be and how to set expectations accordingly. Even a good effort up the three miles of hills could come in at 9:30/mile if they are particularly brutal, then I am spending the rest of the race chasing sub 8s on tired legs to bring it home under 8:30/mile. We'll see how it plays out.

"C" Goal: Give it my all and finish without getting hurt. I can't get too caught up on times, but I will be disappointed if I don't at least hit my B goal. I never want to feel like I didn't give 110% and leave it all out there though, so as long as I do that I'll let the chips fall as they may.