Staring down the Pig!

Just a little over a week until the Flying Pig Half Marathon in Cincy. 

It's going to be a great weekend.  I'm feeling great.  My hard training has totally been paying off.  For instance, tonight I knocked out a 3.2 mile run in 28:13.  The average pace was 8:37... which is the fastest pace that I put up for an outside run.  Additionally, the 3rd mile of the run was completed in 8:15!  Sweet! (Here is the RunKeeper data if you wanna check it out for yourself.) I really didn't even go out to try to run hard... it just felt good. 

I feel like I'm pushing my body just about as hard as I can.  I feel like I'm on that razor sharp edge of being "on it" without getting injured (but I did give my troublesome Achilles a bit of ice tonight... just as a preemptive measure).  I'm just hoping that it holds out.  I've got 4 more runs before the Pig (3 miles, 8 miles, 2 miles and 5 miles). 

I'm working on a bit of form work in my runs lately.  I've been trying to stretch out more in my gait to take advantage of my strength.  Overall, I think that it's been helping.  It's nice to kick it up a notch and grab a higher gear. 

I've got a couple of goals for the 1/2 marathon next weekend that I keep thinking about over and over.
 
First, I want to set a personal record.  My PR for the Akron half was 2:06:40.  I want to beat that.  That's why I've been training so hard.  I've really been hitting the hills and I think it's paying off. 

Second, I want to break the 2 hour mark.  I have to shave a few seconds off of each mile (30 to be exact) and go out an run a 9 minute 9 second pace over the course of the race.  I'm hoping to cross the finish line and see a '1'.  Also, why I've been hitting the hills.  I know that the Pig is a hilly course and I want to be ready.  I watched the Boston Marathon on Monday.  That's one of my long term goals.  But... in order to register for that, I have to get a lot faster.  I see the Pig as my next step in that direction.

So... we'll see what happens. 

I'm planning to add a little fresh hardware this weekend... that'll be fun.  I've decided to pick up a Garmin Forerunner 210 GPS watch (pictured). I'm going to grab it on Monday so that I have a bit of time and a couple of runs to get used to it before Sunday's race.


Overall, I'm feeling good.  I'm feeling confident.  I'm feeling ready. 
Bring on the Pig...


Jim

BTW: After the Pig... I'm jumping straight into full marathon training!  My next step towards Boston (someday).

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