Tomorrow ... tomorrow ... there's always tomorrow ....

IT'S ONLY A DAY AWAY!!!!

And so is my first half marathon!

Went out today and picked up our race numbers and timing chips.  They've had to do a last minute change to the course (I think due to lack of participants and/or volunteers).  It's now going to be two 10.55Km loops.  I drove most of the course today to check it out and it looks like a pretty good one.  Just doing loops has it's pros and cons. 

Pros - you know the course for the latter half of the race and can decide when to push it a bit more and when to back off.  You have a really good idea where the end of the course is.

Cons - You know the course ... and can over analyze it, or if you're already feeling tired and know there is a big hill coming up it can mentally exhaust you, you can also visually know how much longer there is to go.  Loops sometimes feel longer than they are because you feel like your done when you're only halfway there.

For me, on this course, I think the pros definitely outweigh the cons.  It looks like a nice course.

This morning we had an absolute downpour.  The kind you can barely see through.  If today was the race, I can't say with 100% certainty that I would have gone.  It was THAT bad!

I'm hoping that the system burned itself out this morning.  It cleared late in the afternoon ... so I'm hopeful.  A little rain I can deal with - the hose on full boar is another story.  Anyhow, I think it will be OK.

My buddy Syl so graciously gave me an amazing shout out today on her blog (Live Smile Run).  This girl always has my back.  In her comment to me yesterday she said something along the lines of me wearing something pink so she could come along with me on the race.  So I went out in search of some kind of item that I could take along.  I looked for something like an earring, bracelet, necklace, hair clip .... but found nothing.  This kind of disappointed me because I really wanted to take her along.

As I was waiting in line to get my race package I was standing beside the socks.  I've been eyeing up proper running socks for a while, but I'm just so cheap and couldn't stomach spending that much on a pair of socks.  Though as I run longer distances I'm starting to value them more.  My feet get smokin' hot when I run, so I wear super thin socks - but my soles get tender on long distances. 

I saw a pair that really stood out to me.  They had cushioning on the front and back of the underneath of the sock, with a very thin mesh on the top.  Perfect!  Plus ... they came in pink.  SUPER PERFECT!  I could have the cushioning I need, they were pink so I could take Syl along on every step, plus ... I kinda like pink myself.

Imagine how blown away I was when I went back and re-read Syl's comments to me.  She said, "I am so excited for you, I wish I could be there to see you cross....maybe you could wear pink socks or something to know that i'm with you ever step of the way!"

Must be fate!  I didn't even realize that was exactly what she had said.

Here's my purty new sockies:

I'm going to bring along a pair of my regular socks - just in case there is an issue. I'd rather change them after my warm-up, or even have to stop to change in the middle of the race, than to run the whole thing in socks that are uncomfortable. But I'm pretty confident these will be good.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!  I will be carrying your well wishes with me tomorrow and will use them as fuel to push the whole way.  It means alot to me.

I'll be back with a recap, and in the next couple of days I have kind of a funny story to share about my workout last night (kay, not super funny, but maybe you'll see the humour in it)

Have a great weekend everyone!

and THANK YOU once again...

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥