And I am running in it. The weather should be good. A couple of days ago we had snow in the mountains, right now it looks like that snow has melted. I suspect there will still be patches of snow in the shady backside of the hill.
This year I am planning on doing a few things different during the race. First, I don’t think I am going to use any of the energy gels like I did last year – taste like garbage, yuk. Even with water, those don’t go down well. Too sweet when you are exercising. Instead, I plan on slicing an orange up into very thin slices and bringing about 10 slices in a baggie. I’ll pull one out and suck on the orange for a quick burst of energy. Last year I completely bonked somewhere past the 10 mile mark, I had to walk for awhile and recall cursing when I couldn’t even hold on to a piece of orange that was handed to me. The young woman who handed it to me was very apologetic – it was not her fault at all … a belated apology if you are out there and reading this.
The other thing I am going to do is take it easier on the beginning of the backside of the race. After cresting the peak last year, I just let it rip, I was flying downhill. I think the pounding and large range of motion zapped my energy and left me weak. I’ll make an effort to go easy on the downhill and see if I can increase my pace once the course starts to level off about a mile from the summit (still 3+ miles from the finish line though).
I’m targeting under 1:50:00 for a finish and will be pleased if I hit this target. Will need to be at the summit around 1:19:00 or better to get that time. Last year I made it to the summit in 1:26:+ and finished 2:04:+ My fitness in terms of how much weight I am carrying around is much better this year. The last four weeks I have only run 3 times a week on average, this will be the wild card. While I feel well rested, the lack of training for the past month might catch up with me.
[tags]robie creek, running, half marathon[/tags]
