Odds and Ends

I'm done with my pre-race preparations here in Austin, and now all that's left is to pack and get on the aircraft with Frank. I'm excited about the race, of course, but I'm also looking forward to meeting up with Jeff and Andy, my Carolina running friends, and introducing Alex and Frank to them again. We'll probably observe the Thursday pizza dinner ritual, then we'll have the easy Friday run (maybe we'll coax Jeff and Andy into stretching afterwards?) followed by the first bagels of the weekend. The expo after that, and then some low stress activity for the afternoon, including a possible driving tour of the race course. Friday night is pasta night, as surely as the sun rises each morning, then Race Day. It should be a lot of fun, and I'm hopeful that we might go 5 for 5 on PR's for the group. A full report will follow, of course, but that'll have to wait until Sunday.

I think you'll be able to track the race at www.500festival.com/marathon if you want to try that. The other four guys are all seeded runners, starting waaaaaayyyyyy up ahead of me. I'll be probably 5-10 minutes behind them getting to the start line. The race starts at 7:30 Indianapolis time, which I think is the same as 7:30 am Austin time on Saturday.

Indy race goals, you say?

Reasonable Goal - 1:50:00 (8:24 pace) - Masters PR (actual Masters PR is 1:52:55 - 8:36 pace)
Leapfrog Goal - 1:48:05 (8:15 pace) - faster still, and even faster than my current 20k PR. Would be my second fastest half marathon ever (see below)
Chart Goal - 1:46:30 (8:08 pace) - According to McMillan tables, this is my equivalent half marathon for my current 10k race PR
Dream Goal - 1:44:48 (8:00 pace) - Nice round pace number to shoot for...but I should note that my lifetime best at this distance, way back in 1993, was 1:44:04 (7:56 pace) at Atlanta. I weighed 151 pounds then, 12 years ago...but wouldn't it be cool to top that?

I'm going to go out and run as I feel, and try to trust the training to get me to the finish line. I'd love to have a negative split, and I certainly want my last couple of miles to be my fastest ones.