Five days away

At 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, a mere five days away, I’ll likely be starting (or in my corral waiting to start) the Country Music Half Marathon.

I hope the last thought in my head isn’t “Why was I thinking I could do this?”

But if it is, I think I’ve got the ammunition to fight back. I have trained for this. Alisha and I have been following a program since February and been running consistently since January. We’ve run past mile markers I have to say I doubted I could ever withstand—distances like 10 miles (twice) and 12 miles a week ago. And all that tells me is that I can finish this half marathon.

I won’t be in the front pack. I likely won’t set any records. But I will finish. And any time is a record for me since I haven’t ever run a half marathon.

The training plan we’ve been following started tapering down on Saturday. We’ve got 3 miles to run on Tuesday, 30 minutes on Wednesday and 20 minutes on Friday. And then, it’s test day, as I like to call it. The day we get to lay all the training on the line and do the best we can do.

And I’m thinking we might even surprise ourselves.

So I’ll see you at the finish line, friends (literally and figuratively). And if you’re out of town and want to cheer, be sure to log on to Facebook and comment on my Nike+ post so I’ll hear a cheer along the race route. If you want text updates with my times (which I think is slightly weird), let me know. That can be arranged. 🙂