Race Prediction - Forest City Road Race 10K

Goal #1

I ran the Gold's Gym 5K race last year. I set a goal for myself that day ...

... To run in the 10K event in 2011 and in the half marathon in 2012, completing a trifecta of races at one event. I will accomplish the second of three steps toward this goal later today. :)

Goal #2

... To have no more goals other than Goal #1. :)

By the time I finish today's race, I will have 40K+ under my belt for the week, the first time I have run this much mileage since last November. I am not silly enough to maintain a full training week and then expect to PR in a race at the end of it. This has never been my priority for this particular race. I am running with a, "it is what it is" attitude. No pressure.

If anything, I truly enjoyed last weekend's McFarlan Rowlands Downtown 5K race when I felt healthy and strong from start to finish. I anticipate feeling a little tired and waves of sluggishness after all my running this week, but if I complete this race at a steady clip, running "well" from start to finish, this will be good enough for me. :) Today is just for fun and a significant marker of slow and steady improvement from last year.

However, I also have to admit, even after writing the above, I have "6:45" on the brain, as in, I want to try keeping my pace at a steady 6:45/km. I will not be able to maintain this pace on the two hills on the course, but if I am not too feeling too tired/sluggish after this week's workouts, I will likely be 'coaching' myself to keep at this pace just to see how well I do at it for most of the 10K. This is 15 seconds/km slower than what I hoped for, but didn't happen, at my last 10K race. We'll see! :)

Race post later today .....