Off to Atlanta!

Well, two-race Saturday went pretty well considering my level of fitness and level of effort (more than a training run but not all out like an A race), but I just don't know what to expect in this half marathon on Sunday.  I've been reading race reports and it sounds like the course is quite hilly, with the majority of the climbs at the end of the race.  But I've done what I can, and all I can do now is hope that will be enough to at least come out of this with a respectable time.  

My other concern is the emotionality of it all... my mom and Alan had planned to travel to Atlanta for this race, and knowing that they should be there but I won't see her smiling  face and hear her cheering for me along the course really makes me sad.  I am hoping I can take those thoughts and use them to channel my energy into running faster, but sometimes I just burst into tears uncontrollably and that will obviously not help with my race experience or finish time.  So for now I am just telling myself that she may not be there but she will still be watching, and hopefully that will help to get me through this one.

This is really my only 'race' of the season, even though I have quite a few things on my calendar.  Boston will be just for fun, I'm pacing a friend at the Tar Heel 10M, and the goal for both the Tour de Cure 104M ride and Raleigh Ironman 70.3 triathlon is simply to finish.  So I really have no excuse to do anything other than leave it all out there and give my best effort, and that is exactly what I intend to do.

The weather forecast looks pretty good - Saturday night low of 52; Sunday high of 72; Partly sunny with a 10% chance of rain and 70% humidity.  A bit warmer than I'd like, but the race starts at 7:00 and sunrise is not until 7:45, so hopefully I'll be finished by the time it really warms up.

Georgia Half Marathon Goals:

Level 3 goal (what I think I can do): 1:37 (7:25)
Level 2 goal (what I hope I can do): 1:35 (7:15)
Level 1 goal (best case scenario, PR): 1:32 (7:05)

Training update:

Monday: Swim 1K with 8x25

Tuesday: 6.3 miles with Ellen and Sarah 
8:04, 7:34, 7:32, 7:30, 7:26, 7:36, and 8:10 for the last .29.
2 mile walk with Nicole

Wednesday: BCTC Track - 14 x 400  (95-96-95-94-92-93-95--91-92-95-94-93)
Was supposed to be 10K pace, but each was in the 6:09-6:22 range, which is faster than my 5k pace.  And I was still the track workout caboose.  Oh well... 
1500 pull swim

Thursday: 8M with Sara (64:12)

Friday: 3.5M with Ellen (26:25)
Due to time constraints, this run was shorter than planned. Middle 1.5 at 7:05.

Sunday: 10M with Jason K (1:15:48)
Joined Jason for the last part of his 22 mile training run.  My schedule called for goal pace + 20 seconds, so we did exactly that (7:35).  

Monday: 4M Rise run with Ellen, Sarah, and Jeff in the morning (30:41 - once again not the easy recovery pace I was hoping for) and another 4.5M with Sara in the evening, including a test run of Laurel Hill, which is included in the upcoming Tar Heel 10 Miler (36:24)

Tuesday: Easy run with Nicole around campus after work (3.1M, 28:53)

Wednesday: 8M (62:12) including 5 800s with 400 recovery jogs.  It was supposed to be half marathon goal pace (7:15, or 3:37 per 800), but they ended up a bit faster - 3:27, 3:26, 3:27,  3:32, 3:30.