three in a row

here we go! The third half in as many weeks. The goal today is to come in under the Austin time (shouldn't be a problem as long as I hit the p-a-p before the start) and to have fun! The course does have some hills in it, but they're not as fast and furious grouped together (or at least I don't remember them being continuous like I felt the Austin ones were). And I KNOW there is nothing like that one at the back stretch at mile 10-11. So I should be fine. I'm expecting that I should be able to finish in about 2:18 or so. Anything faster would be greatness for where I am right now.

I did a couple of runs this week, one Tuesday at the Marriott Marquis gym (separate post reminder -- WOW! What a gym!) and another yesterday at my gym. Nothing spectacular about them, except that I did actually run this week, as opposed to last week, when my training consisted of nada and nil.

So I'm done with my oatmeal, I have my chip and bib on, and I'm ready to roll. If anything is causing me concern, it's that I might have washed the mojo out of my orange Longhorn visor. I've worn it for at least two full marathons, four or so halves and I can't even count how many training runs. But it was, ahem, shall we say.. "fragrant" to say the least. It had salt rings on it and was pretty disgusting. When even my boys wouldn't bring it to me off the hat rack in the hallway I knew I had a problem (the least of which is that my boys are both silly wussies afraid of some stinky sweat). So after I pulled it out of the duffel bag Sunday night after last week's trip, when it's funkiness truly could not be ignored any longer, I threw it in the washer along with the rest of the clothes and hoped for the best. I knew it couldn't get any worse. It emerged from the washer looking (and smelling!) like new. It hung on the rack to dry and it feels OK on my head right now. We shall see if its powers have been diminished or enhanced by this "clean" thing.

Enough about my hat and my routine. I'm headed out to the course now. It's a 7:30 start, but the 5K is about the half an hour later, and the 10K race starts the same time as we do. So it tends to get a little crowded at the starting area. And I want to be sure I find good parking. So, gotta run!! See you on the other side!