How Easy Can We Run?

This morning, we got to sleep in and meet at 7:30am for our pre-race Saturday ritual. A happy mob of Gazelles hit the trail for 4 easy miles of jogging under overcast skies and cool temperatures. If race day is like this, it'll be just fine. Lots of us were dressed warmer than we will be tomorrow, but for this sort of easy run, it makes sense. I moved from group to group, checking out the conversation amongst the different folks. It was a really fun run, relaxed and good for the legs to do some comfortable jogging. Ended up with 4.1 miles at 9:51/mile pace. After that, we did 5x100m striders, which felt just fine. No aches or pains to report.

Stretching was fun, of course, and a lot of folks just couldn't stop laughing. Gilbert circled among us, picking people to do extra stretching with to ensure that they were doing it right. Except for some minor tightness in my right calf and quad, I seem to be issue-free with my legs.

Some last-minute race advice from Gilbert was offered, and we started finalizing our race plans based on that. I'm hopeful that I can get a PR, even with the hilly course, based on my Pervasive race time and other data. For sure, I'll beat last year's Motive time. My plan is basically the same as last year, just a little quicker: (1) Go relaxed to the bottom of the big hill segment, covering the first 4.5 miles in the 8:30/mile range. (2) "Run How I Feel" through the hilly chunk of the course, to the 8 mile mark. (3) Pick it up a bit at 8 miles, and then pick it up again at 10 miles, trying to have some of my best miles late.

It should be a fun day of racing, especially once the 8 mile mark is reached. Now, the rest of the day is to rest and hydrate/eat properly.