I am so nervous!  Tomorrow is my first race ever, and I’m feeling completely overwhelmed and underprepared.  I feel a bit like a fraud as I will probably not be running more than half of it (walking the rest, not driving or something 😉 ) but I need to focus on the positive:  it’s still a long walk, great exercise, and will be a big accomplishment.

It’s been a crazy week leading up to this.  My personal trainer got a new job as a car salesman, so I will be switching trainers.  I am so sad to lose him as I have accomplished so much with his help (including this race, which was entirely Joe’s idea.)  I have an appointment with a new trainer on Tuesday–if I don’t like him there are many other options at the gym.  I have about four months left on the contract, so that’s plenty of time to work with another person.  I am eager to be challenged in a new and different way.

So, before the race you pick up what is called a “race packet.”  For this race, it is a drawstring plastic bag that was filled with fliers, burt’s bees samples, a long sleeve “tech” t-shirt (which Joe decided to decorate for me…a parting gift I suppose!  Picture will come later, after the race as I am told  it is bad form to wear the shirt beforehand), and my race number.  My number is 5001.  I guess that means at least 5000 people are in the race!

I am supposed to arrive by 6:00 am tomorrow…that’s VERY early for me.  I will need to leave the house by 5:30 to do that, so I’m not only stressed about the actual race, I’m totally stressed about getting up early!  Also, it’s supposed to be in the 30’s at that time, in the low 40’s by the race start, so I think I need to add a jacket over my outfit.  I hope that doesn’t get too annoying–I am able to double tie the sleeves around my waist, so I think that should work…

My time won’t be anything impressive.  My goal is to keep ahead of 15 minutes for each mile, so 13.1 x 15 minutes is 3 hours and approximately 16 minutes.  My longest training run/walk was 10 miles, and I finished in just under 2:30, so it’s just a bit longer then.

Wish me luck!  I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow 🙂