2013 RUM RUN 10K RACE PREVIEW

First I'll tell you about the weather this week. It sucks! It's basically back to winter, temperatures are in the low 50s for highs and it has been raining non stop. Wednesday at run group it was a monsoon the whole time, I got soaked in just 5.3 miles. Plus, it was very windy. Kind of fun to run in to be one of those "crazy" people, but at the same time, what happened to sunny and 60? That wasn't so bad!

The Rum Run is this weekend in Tualatin. This race kind of holds a special place in my heart because one year ago it was the first non-5k I ever did. At that time 10k was quite the distance! I had only ran six miles a couple times before the race, and only over five a few times more. So it was a step up for me. It's funny to think how far I've come in a year... a 10k is just a normal weekday run for me now. In a way though, this race was the first step up working toward the Portland Marathon in October of this year.

Unfortunately, in what seems to be a trend for Energy Events, the course is long. It clocks in at 6.35 miles, so .12 miles long. That translates to about an extra minute that is going to be added to my time. The good news is, my PR for a 10k is still what I did at this race last year on the same course, so it will be apples to apples. Really confusing that this course is long because I found a number of ways playing around on MapMyRun to make it an actual 10k without changing the route hardly at all (no new roads or paths) but oh well.

Bottom line is that I want to beat my time from last year. I don't know when I'll do a 10k next, so I'll have to live with this one for a while. My training plan really doesn't call for any more short distance races since weekends are for long runs now, so this will be a final "short distance celebration" before I really buckle down for the marathon!

Anyways, my plan is pretty simple. Try to run a 7:20 average or so. Hopefully I'll have more in the tank this year after the neighborhood hills in Durham so I can attack the last mile a little bit better. The weather is looking a little iffy... it might rain, but hopefully if it does, it will just be sprinkles.

A Goal: 46:59 or less. Trade up those first two numbers for a new set.
B Goal: 47:30 or less. This would be a new PR!
C Goal: Anything starting with a 4. Don't want to jeopardize anything with an injury, so if I feel something off, no shame in pulling up. Although I'll be pissed. Really, really pissed.