Oops I Did It Again...

My sister-in-law Angela asked me a few weeks ago what I knew about a race called the "Minneapolis Halloween Half Marathon." I hadn't heard of it. We found out it's a brand new race this year.

We're counting on it being a decent race because it's part of the MN Run Series (which I also know nothing about):

Where I'm going with this is that I SIGNED UP TO RACE A HALF MARATHON in three weeks. I swore back in about March that I wouldn't do anything longer than a 10 mile, and at that point, the TC 10 Mile felt like it might not happen. I waited until 2 days after the TC 10 Mile last weekend before signing up to make sure my legs were OK. My calves were tight and my quads were still sore, but nothing was "injured." So my 2 sister-in-laws (Angela and Steph) signed up too. We'll all have a good time in 3 weeks!

The course looks nice, "fun," and pretty. (But maybe not necessarily FAST.) It starts in St. Anthony Main, heads north along the river, crosses to the downtown side of the river, then heads south for 6 miles. (We just ran miles 3 through 5 as part of the TC 10 Mile last weekend - down to the river, and then up that big ass hill to Franklin.) Then it heads back to the Stone Arch Bridge where we cross and finish. I live just across the river and up Marshall, and miles 5-10 of this race course are where I run for probably 85% of my normal training runs:

From their website.

This (obviously) won't be an "A" race for me. I'll probably run with a camera and snap photos. I'll just push the pace but enjoy myself a bit too. When I first gave this race ANY bit of thought, my first thought was "Can I keep from running a personal worst and beat my time from my first half marathon? I can break 1:30, right?" Yes, I can totally break 1:30.* Other than that, I have no real goals. As the days get closer, will I want to break 1:25? Maybe. Will I want to break 1:20? Not possible. Will I decide to just have a good time and see what my finish time becomes? There's a chance. Right now, I'm mainly doing this race for fun.

So the next 3 weeks are just about getting in another long run or 2. THIS WEEK, I've only ran once so far since the race (not wanting to over-do anything and get injured), and I'll probably go for an easy 7-8 miler (pushing the boys) tomorrow. NEXT WEEK I'll see if I can get in 11 or 12 miles as my long run. IN TWO WEEKS, I'll back off the distance, but maybe do a little race pace running. And IN THREE WEEKS is the race. Sounds like an OK plan, right?

* OK, I know it's stupid to think about doing a race only if you won't run a personal worst. That thinking of mine has to stop, because I WILL be getting slower over the years. It was honestly just my first thought for this race. I don't always need to think like that. Hold me to this. :)