Officially wimped out

Well, it's official.  I called the race director today and changed my entry from 10K to 5K.  Call me scared, but I'm not feeling the need to run my first 6.2 in 40mph gusts and snow/rain.  I know it would be a perefct time to set a really low PR and have no place to go but up, but I also don't want to have this awful 1st experience and dread ever doing it again.  So, it's official, I'll only be running 3.1 tomorrow..in the rain..or snow..and the wind...UGH!!

Winning combination?

  Wind and cold...NOT a winning combination in my book. 
  I'm really trying to NOT get myself all freaked out about the upcoming 10K Saturday, but when the forecast came out and is predicting 39 for a high and 20-30 mph winds I tend to get a little nervous.  I have trained lots for this race, hit my pace many a time and done all I can to be prepared, but not sure I can prepare for that.  My first fault is that nearly all of my training has been on the treadmill, and the switch to the road has been a wake up call.  I definitely need to find my road legs.  My recent runs have left me less than sure about my confidence level.  I've had a few great ones, and few that leave me wondering why I am attempting my first 10K so early in the season.  (I've run the distance plenty, but the outside pace seems so different) 
  The wind is what is really scaring me.  I am a total fair weather runner.  If the wind is over 10mph I opt for the TM.  The race is right off the lake, so the certainty of lake wind and cold is 100%.  I may need to reevaluate my time goals.  The good news is that since this is my 1st 10K, I'll surely be giving myself lots of room for improvement in future ones.  LOL.  I will try to be calm and see what the day brings, but YIKES I'm getting nervous!!

Most excellent adventure

Okay, maybe not an adventure, but compared to the miles and miles I put in on the treadmill this winter, a romp around our small little town 4 times was quite an adventure to me.  I put in several outside runs last week.  The first was horrid and painful to the ego, then they progressively got better.  My goal Sat. was to start at a decent 10K pace to test my confidence for an upcoming Earth Day race, run the 6.2, rest or walk a bit, and then finish out with 5 or 6 easy miles.  I decided to carry my water in a new Athleta hand held I had purchased, but wasn't really crazy about carrying something.  I carried it the first 3 miles then flung it in my sisters yard on the way by.  I didn't bring any mid run fuel, mostly because I haven't found anything that I like.  I tried to stay at a 9:00 pace or below for the first 6.  Success!!  I finished in 54:54, which is something like 8:49 I think.  I'm gonna shoot for 8:40 on race day.  I slowed the pace after the first 10K and finished with a total of 11.25 miles.  My pace for the day was 9:47.  Not bad at all for my first long run.  I was hoping my legs wouldn't be screaming at me for going from 3.25 miles to 11.25, but so far they've felt good.  I iced and used the stick several times and I will run some repeats tonight at the gym, so we'll see.  Feeling pretty confident for next weeks race.