TONIGHT is the Kick-Off to the MDRA Grand Prix

I'm trying it again this year. I'm dropping a big load of money (FIVE whole dollars) to take part in the Minnesota Distance Running Association "Grand Prix" series in 2012. (I signed up for it in 2011, and then badly injured my heel after only 1 Grand Prix race - here's a post where I showed the final rankings for 2011.)

The idea of the Grand Prix is simple:
- Race as many of the 14 Grand Prix races as possible.
- You'll be given points based on how you do against other Grand Prix racers at each race.
- The one with the most points at the end of the season wins.

Here are the 14 races in the Grand Prix this year (from the MDRA Grand Prix website):

January: Meet of the Miles (U-M indoors), January 9
January: Securian Winter Half Marathon, January 28
March: St. Patrick's Day Human Race 8K, March 18
April: Get in Gear 10K, April 28
May: New Prague Half Marathon, May 12
May: Brian Kraft 5K, May 28
June: Grandma’s Marathon, June 16
July: Richard A Hoska Rice Street Mile, July 26
July: Hagen Financial Run for Blood 5K, July 28
August: Rochester Half Marathon, Date TBD
September: Victory 10K, September 3
September: City of Lakes 25K, September 9
October: Twin Cities Marathon, October 7
November: Rocky’s Run 6K (cross country), November 4

You can run as many or as few as you'd like. They will take your best results from up to 10 races (so you don't need to race all of the races). And note how the race distances are from 1 mile (2 of those) up to a marathon (also 2 of those). I like that the Grand Prix is (seemingly) trying to find the best "all-around" runner.


FIVE THINGS REGARDING ALL OF THIS:

- Tonight's "kick-off" race is a 1 mile on the track. I haven't ran a mile since my mile PR last year at this race (4:49.53). As I'm running, I'll shoot for 1:14 / 400 for a total of 4:56, but I'll take ANYTHING under 5:00. Who knows. That brings me to my next point...

- I'm much more "ENDURANCE-based" this year, where I was more "SPEED-based" last year. Last year in the 4 weeks prior to this 1 mile race, I had 3 long runs of 10, 12 and 13 miles, a lot of 4-7 mile runs, and 2 short, faster races in there (a 1 mile and a 5K both on the track). This year over the last few weeks, I've had 4 long runs of 10.5, 11, 13.5 and 14.5 miles, slightly longer "middle-distance" runs (many with Henry), and NO races. This makes me nervous for how fast my short, fast, hard, painful 1 mile race will be.

- I REALLY want to stay injury-free for the Grand Prix this year. Duh. Let's try this for a change.

- I know that I WON'T race the first marathon in the series for sure. BBBBBUUUUUUUUTTTTTTT...... If I'm still injury-free, I'd CONSIDER signing up for the Twin Cities Marathon this year. It COULD be my first marathon finish! I'd have to go into the training with NO time goal, and hoping to "JUST FINISH" (and "finish injury-free"). But again, we'll see. I'm NOT saying I'm racing it.

- And regarding the race tonight, keep an eye on my Twitter page and my TwitPics page (both are also embedded on the right side of my blog). I'll shoot out some tweets and maybe some photos from the race. The race starts around 6:15 pm, and I'll be in the 2nd or 3rd heat.

Check back sometime tomorrow (hopefully) for a race report!!

Bye-bye from Henry and I:

(Bonus "Henry and Steve" photo from this weekend:)