That Was Fast!

The year end is almost upon us. It's amazing how fast the year went by. If you ask me to recall what I did the entire year, I'd be hard pressed to recollect all of it. It seemed like only yesterday it was January and I was eagerly waiting to take part in my first race for the year, in April, which unfortunately had to be the Energizer Nightmare Run and now it's four days to the New Year and I'm already eagerly waiting in anticipation for my first race for next year, the Newton 25K Challenge which falls on New Year's day.

This will be the first time I'm ever going to actually run, let alone take part in a race on New Year's day itself. Obviously there's not going to be a late night party session for New Year's eve cos I'll be tucked in bed pretty early. The Newton Challenge is something to be respected and partying the night before is like taking a flying leap off a tall building! But then, I can't think of a better way to usher in the New Year than by running it in :D

All the preps for the race has been done, the route has been recced and run (at least the hill sections anyway) and it's every bit as challenging as it's made out to be. This is also going to be my longest distanced run to date and is the perfect stepping stone for me to embark on my marathon quest for next year.

The only apprehension I have about the race is whether the injury I'm saddled with at the moment will act up on race day. It's healing just fine and feels much better than last week when I pulled up in pain and was unable to even walk back properly. The cautious, short and slow 10K I did on Christmas day gave a promising indication that the leg was healing just fine and Ive been resting it since then with no runs scheduled for now.

But I'm not taking any chances on race day though. I'm going to run a conservative race and keep an eye on the leg. I'm planning a race strategy that will see me starting from the middle or back of the pack, keeping to a slower than normal pace of 6:00 - 6:30 for the first two and a half sections of the route (I've broken the route into 3 sections) and then if things are fine with the leg, maybe up that pace a little in the final half section of the race. It's all in theory though, that might just go to hell on actual race day ... hahaha!

The wife is also eagerly looking forward to the race, especially after totally out-running me during our recce session two weeks back ... LOL! She's been training hard for the race and I'm sure she's going to do just fine :D She's been taking part in every race I've been to this year and she's improving from strength to strength with each race. I foresee her doing loads of PB's next year :D I'm glad she's as passionate about running as I am :D

With that said and done, I'm now going to take a nap and enjoy the rest of my holidays, which will be until next year. If the weather permits, I might take a short run later this evening to take the legs for a little test run.