10K Turkey Trot

It's official. I am going out tomorrow morning to run my first 10K since the dreaded marathon. It will be especially nice because I know a lot of my friends, and people I train with will be out there. The weather looks like it is going to cooperate as well—partly sunny, high of 50. My brother Leonard and I are registering in a couple of hours as a brother/brother team. I am especially excited for him because he has recently bumped up his running, with his first eight mile run this past week—ever! Hey, Len... only 5 more to go to run a half, and you are more than 9 months out still. I will also be running (behind) my friend Vanessa, who recently qualified for the Boston Marathon.

I know I have not been running a lot, so I have a pretty conservative game plan for the race: survive. Well, the actual game plan is a bit more ambitious. I want to run a solid eight minute pace for the first three miles and then try to run negative splits the last three. That will put me somewhere around 49-51 minutes. The cooler air this time of year is a blessing. What I have to be conscious of now—at my ripe old age—is leg fatigue. I have been doing squats and stretching quite a bit since about mid-October, so I am hoping fatigue is not an issue. If I feel good after the run tomorrow (i.e. knees,) it may just give me the confidence to start striving for double digits again. I also feel a bit of excitement about getting back out there and training. I have not felt that way since before the Musselman half-iron on 19 July. My secret weapons for the race are ibuprofen, 2 endurolytes and one vanilla flavored GU with caffeine. Perhaps I should try to get to bed at a reasonable hour as well.

Good luck to my friend Jodie who will be running a half-marathon in Vegas—or so she says. Of course, what happens in Vegas... And good luck to my fellow runners out there tomorrow, especially Vanessa, Manuel, Len, Tom, and Karen. Let's burn some serious turkey calories!

Post-race day pictures to follow!