My first Racing the States race is in 5 days!! 5 DAYS!!!! AHHH!! Actually, I am a little nervous. I was debating back and forth in my head about how far/how many miles to take my training up to. With my bday being last week, I didn’t run very much, so I only got up to 10 miles, and it’s not a good idea to do any more high milage runs this close to race day. BUT, I remembered from my last half training program that 10 miles was all it took me up to. And I didn’t run 13.1 miles until actual race day. So, hopefully I’ll be ok.

Horsetooth Reservoir...this is the OTHER side of the lake from where the race is; up in the mountains

My pre race review: Since I’ve run this race before, I probably could give a pretty detailed review of this race, so I’ll only tell you a little bit about it and save the rest for a post race review.

The start of the race....right next to CSU's football stadium

The Horsetooth Half is in Fort Collins, Colorado. I love Foco! (yes, that’s was the “cool” people call it). I went to college in this city, so I lived there for 5 years….I have a special spot in my heart for this place. I go back to visit often, er, try to. From talking to fellow competitors last time I ran this race, I’ve heard this is one of the harder halfs they have done. I have not done any other halfs, but yes, I would call this one of the most difficult races I’ve done. It starts off on a hill. Literally on a hill. The start line is at the base and you run up. There’s a total of 3 major, HUGE, hills; as I think I’ve mentioned before that its not just the up hills that are hard about this race – the down hills are so steep they can just as easily kick your ass! I think the main reason I was so sore the first time was from catching my steps on the down hills. The Scenery of this race is BEAUTIFUL! The best race scenery I have ever seen! You follow the east edge of the Horsetooth Reservoir, down the Poudre River, and end at New Belgium Brewery (need I say more??).

Goals for this race:

1. FINISH – Without walking….yes, this is a serious goal! I’m nervous!

2. I think I am going to put a time goal on this one: 2:00 or under is my goal. Last time I ran the race in 2:12:26 and was 55/103 for my age/gender group (age 20-24) OMG! I’m not even in the same age group anymore!!!!! hahaha…quarter life crisis!

3. Now that I’m a more experienced runner than last time I did this race, I want to set a goal to “be less sore.” By this I mean that I want to concentrate on my running technique, especially on the down-hills and work on better footing.

This week, I’m keeping my runs shorter, not lifting at the gym (because I don’t want to risk being sore) and my favorite part of pre-race week…Carbo loading! lol

UPDATE!! 

As my mom reminded me: I am doing the Mud Hen 5k on April 28th in Longmont, CO!! Its actually a pretty fun race. I’ve done the run once before, and my only complaint is that I wish it were MORE muddy!  HAHA!