Preparation for a race

This past Friday I once again had the pleasure of reuniting with an old friend.  A former teammate and roommate of mine at UNCW, Andy Painter, noticed via Facebook that I had been running and training a lot more these days.  He was coming to Gastonia for a wedding and sent me a message saying that he'd like to run with me at McAlpine.

We met at the Sardis entrance at 9:30am and set off to run the course and back (7 miles).  It was fun catching up with Andy, talking about what all we had been doing over the years and rehashing old memories.  We ran our 7 miles at a leisurely 7:51 pace.  Running in 70-degree weather after dealing with the nineties for five solid months is just fantastic!

As previously discussed, I have decided to run in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K.  This past Friday was the eve of that race.  I paid the $35.00 entry fee and picked up my packet at Run For Your Life on Park Road.  Unlike most runners, I never liked to eat pasta before races (you can get the same energy stores from fruits and veggies, without all the cheese and noodles), but I was housesitting for my parents, and that's what was in the fridge.  So I devoured some pasta and proceeded to feel like crap for the next 12 hours. 

I was pretty nervous for this race.  I felt like someone (me??) was going to be really disappointed if I didn't perform well.  But what would be "performing well"?  I only started training seriously as recently as two months ago, and I hadn't run a race of any distance since track season my junior year at UNCW (2003).  I discussed strategy with Eggers and we determined that a time of 18:45 could be doable given how well some of my workouts have been going.  I knew that there were many potential mental blocks from having been out of it for so long but tried not to think about that.  Given my marathon training, I would be going on endurance, not speed, but I felt like 19 minutes was a reachable goal.

Now, here's where things get interesting.  While Komen is a fantastic cause (the proceeds go to breast cancer research for those who don't know), it has never been a very competitive race.  It's really more of a party than anything else.  I was suddenly afraid that a time of 19 minutes or under would put me right at the front of the pack.  I recently joined the Charlotte Running Club, and I e-mailed founder Aaron Linz to ask if any of the local heavy hitters would be suiting up for this one.  He confirmed my point about how the race was not usually competitive but mentioned that John Compton and a guy named Billy Shue would be running in it for sentimental reasons.  Compton was a rival of mine in high school; he ran for Providence Day and was four years younger than me but was already running in the low 17s when he was in eighth grade (my personal best in high school was 17:11).  Knowing those guys would be there relieved any fears I had of having to make a decision at the front of the field.

Friday night, I fiddled with my race number and laid out a black-and-white Nike singlet that I found buried in my closet.  I would also wear my Nike training shoes and some yellow-and-black racing shorts.  I drank several glasses of water, ate some berries, and tried to go to sleep.