Steady As She Goes

So, I’m racing – no wait, scratch that – running a half marathon on Sunday.

Sometime back in October my friend Laura suggested we sign up for the First Half Half. She had just come off the high of completing the Victoria Half Marathon, and I was all stoked about heading to New Zealand, and at the time, it sounded like a super-great-wonderful idea. I was all in! (Oh, and we roped Kirsten in too).

I figured it would give me something to focus on post-NZ and would be a good little tune up into the 2013 season (2013, for me, is going to be “the year of the run” after all).

I also thought, given that it’d be early in the year, I would be fresh and could potentially go for a new PB.

One of the reasons I was even thinking about a PB was because Shane had told me after the 2012 Victoria Half (which he completed in 1:37:22) that he was retiring from the half marathon distance until I beat him. So, you know, that is just a little bit of an incentive to run hard, right?

Anyway, my current half PB is from a few years ago and is a bit outdated at 1:50:51. While I have yet to prove it, I know whole-heartedly that I can cover that distance faster (perhaps not 1:37 fast, but deffo into the 1:40s).

Of course, things don’t always go as planned and my grand plans for a new PB have been put aside (for this race at least).

I spent much of my time in November and December doing whatever the hell I felt like. I was exercising, but without any structure. I wasn’t really training. I definitely wasn’t prepping myself to run a ‘fast’ half marathon.

I got rolling again in January, perhaps a little later than I had originally expected, and have been enjoying the stability of an actual training routine, but I don’t feel ready to go out and race hard – and, you know, I don’t really want to.

Don’t get me wrong, I am actually looking forward to the race this weekend, just for different reasons than I originally thought I would be.

I’m excited for this race because it is an excuse to head to the big city and hang out with someone I don’t get to see nearly enough. I’m excited to run a race on unfamiliar roads. I’m excited to try out some pacing for the marathon and use this as a building block for the bigger things to come this year.

So, what is my goal for this race then?

To run strong, but also to run steady. To run an even pace for the whole 21.1k – be it 4:47/km or 5:47/km. Oh, and if the pace isn’t even, then it sure as hell better be a negative split.

One other fun goal for the day will be keeping Kirsten reigned in, haha. She has informed me that "my pace is her pace" for this outing. We need to start really learning to run as a team and I think one of the bigger contributions I can bring to our team for TRR is pacing, whereas her strength will be keeping me pushing when the pain sets in. So, perhaps I’ll keep us steady for 16k or then Kirsten can make me dig deep for those last 5k?

I like it. Negative split here we come!!!