This Saturday is the Viking Half Marathon in Greenwood, Mississippi.
I am pretty excited about this race! There is a group of 6 that will be leaving my part of Mississippi tomorrow 1:00 pm for Greenwood. It is about a 3 hr (give/take) drive. We are all going to pile into a mini van and make the trek to Greenwood.
It should be fun!
Once we get to Greenwood, I am meeting a friend of mine who is driving up from the Gulf Coast (Biloxi, Mississippi). We are sharing a hotel room. The other people from the van are sharing one hotel room! Can you say crowded? 5 women. One hotel room. One bathroom!?! On a race day? Haha! That room is going to be a zoo!!!
My friend from Biloxi and I should have a great time. Lots of wiggle room for us in our room. Ahhh…that’s the life. 🙂
So, for the overthinking part:
My PR (Personal Record) for the Half Marathon is 2:19. I ran that on Thanksgiving Day of last year. Thanksgiving is the end of November. That makes 4 months since the last time I raced this distance.
Since the Half Marathon (HM) on Thanksgiving, I’ve raced a Full Marathon and an Ultra Marathon. These were longer distances and to be honest, I’m a little tired from those races. The Marathon was 6 weeks ago and the Ultra 3 weeks ago.
I hope you are following my thinking so far because I’m trying to figure out how fast I can realistically push my pace without crashing and burning Saturday morning.
My pace for the HM on Thanksgiving was 10:40. My Marathon pace was 11:39 and the Ultra pace was 12:12.
I have the potential for an AG (Age Group) win if I do well at this HM Saturday. The two women who captured 1st and 2nd last year are returning. They were sub 2 hr and right at 2 hr finishing time. I don’t stand a prayer of a chance running that fast. BUT…
If I was able to maintain a 10:10 or 10:15 pace? Is that fast enough to grab 3rd in my AG? If was able to stick close to a 10:00 pace, I would (ideally) finish in 2:11. That would be perfect!
Think I can do it?
Stay tuned.
Saturday. 8:00 am gun time.
Fingers crossed!!!