Pre-Race Panic

I use the term "panic" lightly, because relatively I don't get that nervous, but anytime I have an important race where I'm attempting a PR, I have a lot of anticipation/obsession!  The Arizona Rock n Roll half is on Sunday!

My current thoughts:

"What if 50 degrees is too hot?  I've been training in single digit wind chills!"  This is followed by, "50 degrees is nice!  It will be great!  Plus it's a half and not a full."

"What if the freezing rain in the forecast screws up my flight?  What if I don't even make it to Arizona?!  I'm going to have to run a half marathon time trial on the treadmill while the Midwest is covered in ice!"  This is followed by, "Well, I have no control over the weather or flights, so if that happens I'll run a different race a different day."

"What if traveling messes with me and I bonk in the race?"  I remind myself that, "I ran well in the Portland Marathon in 2009 when I flew out there."  And I try not to think about bonking in the 2016 River Run 10K!

"Will TSA take my Generation Ucan thinking it's cocaine (it's white powder)?"  Then I remember, "I'm sure I can buy some in Arizona if it's confiscated."

"I hope I'm not the slowest elite!"  I remind myself, "The time cut-off was 1:25:00, so there can be women with PRs that are 2:23 slower than mine in this corral; plus not everyone will be in PR shape."

"My outfit is going to look silly; a mishmash of brands among athletes in actual racing kits!" (Note:  the brands I will have on include Nike, Underarmour, Hoka, Pro Compression, and of course Garmin...also potentially throw-away gloves that probably came from Walmart if it is cooler than expected)

"What if my goal time is a stupid idea and I die?"  I then tell myself, "You'll regret not taking the chance and going for it; of course you can go out there and run 6:30s, but why be comfortable?  If it doesn't go well you'll learn from it and try again next time!"

"How did I ever run that 6:06 pace tempo?  Was my Garmin incorrect that day?"  This is followed by, "I ran 6:06 pace for 8 miles in training without being rested, and my Garmin has historically been very close to distances in races so surely it was not grossly inaccurate for that one day only...I can do this or at least be justified in trying."

I have also been reading and re-reading everything on the race website, and also checked and re-checked that I packed everything multiple times!  I'm familiar with the course map and have a course-based pace band with my goal time ready to go.  I am going to go out there and do this with 100% of what I have that day - which we all know is different day-to-day.

My pre-race tiny 2 mile tempo yesterday (Wednesday) functioned as it always does to make me feel simultaneously prepared and unprepared.  My coach told me not to run it any faster than 6:10, so I tried to run it at 6:09 pace, haha!  It ended up being 6:08/6:07, so I was close.  It always takes me a couple of miles to hit my groove on tempos, so it's just hard to gauge much from 2 miles.  The first mile was, "This is way too fast; I can't run this for a half marathon and possibly can't run this for 2 miles."  Then the second mile was, "Okay, this is brisk but sustainable...okay, now I'm done."  It was a good reminder of why I plan to go out conservatively; my first 2 miles of my half will not be at that pace, but I hope my final miles are!

I'm officially listed on the race's runner tracker system (also available on the Rock n Roll race app), and I *think* I've been able to decode some things about the race numbers.  Elite men in the full marathon have numbers starting at 001, and elite women in the full have numbers starting at 101. Elite men in the half start at 201, and elite women in the half start at 301. Other athletes have 4-digit bib numbers that correspond to different corrals.  There are 22 elite women and 19 elite men in the half, and the bib numbers are in order of times that runners are coming in with.  I am number 313, so I appear to be ranked 13 out of 22 based on the PR I am coming in with.  So not last! The bulk of the women are between 1:20-1:25, which means we should have a nice pack!

The top contenders, with stats from very quick Google stalking searches:

Neely Spence Gracey - half PR of 1:09:59, top American at 2016 Boston marathon in 2:35, heavily favored to win this one

Kara Foster - 5K time of 15:54, 10K time of 32:37

Maor Tiyouri - top Israeli female distance runner (which is really cool!), 2:42 marathon

Priscilla Schultz - half time of 1:18

Courtney Olsen - half time of 1:18, full time of 2:45

Allison Delancy - half time of 1:20

Theresa Hailey - half time of 1:20, seems to be a very positive person (I really enjoyed this article that she was mentioned in, as I certainly suffer from "never satisfied syndrome")

I'm honored to share a corral with these ladies, along with several other talented gals!  I may be a little star-struck!  I suppose even if I am the last elite, it would not be the worst thing.  I guess the worst that can happen at this point is getting banned from the elite corral at future Rock n Roll events, haha!