Girls on the Run Race Preview

It has been a crazy busy week this week.  We've moved from grant writing season to abstract writing season and all of a sudden I have several new projects at work.  Plus we've had meetings or events every night this week.

Makes me feel like this guy:



In T-minus 3 hours I'll be running my first and last 5k of 2010- The Girls on the Run 5k.

I'm not sure how big the turnout for the race will be (especially with the weather- kind of rainy and gross but fortunately not cold), but I'm hoping to run into both Jamie and Jessica.

I've never done this race before, but it's for a good cause, and I've raced basically every other distance up to the marathon this year so I thought I'd go head and throw a 5k in there, too.

Plus, my 5k PR from a 5k race is pretty old (24:11 set in fall 2008), and provided nothing crazy happens I think I should be able to beat it pretty easily.  I ran a 23:21 in the first 1/2 of the Bellin 10k (the best race of running career), and I'm not sure if I can beat that.  The McMillan Race calculator predicts a 23:31 based in my recent 15k time, which I felt was a well run (by both me and the organizers) but hilly race.  I feel like I tend to be able to run a bit faster than the predicted paces in shorter runs and a bit (or way in the case of the marathon) slower in longer races.  I've heard the GOTR course has a couple hills at the beginning, but I've gotten less concerned about hills thanks to almost a year of consistent strength training (read: lunges).  So in summary, I'd be happy to beat my 2008 5k PR and double happy to beat the one set in the summer.

Do I look sufficiently girly for a Girls on the Run race?  I feel like almost all my race pictures show me wearing this skirt when I actually don't wear it much at all.  I normally run in Nike tempo track shorts, but with the stitching on the inseam...woe be to her who runs in them when it's rainy or humid.  And since it is the former this morning, I'm sporting the skirt.

The rest of the day promises to be busy, but I'll be back with a race report tomorrow afternoon.  Have a great Saturday, all!