So, I would not recommend a two-day car trip plus subsisting basically on caffeine and sugar as preparation for a twelve-mile run. My lungs were fine, but my legs decided that they were going to hang out on the slow end of my easy run pace and refuse to turn over any faster. After three miles in I figured out that it wasn't that I wasn't warmed up, but that I wasn't going to go anywhere quickly. GI tract was not happy after a week of junk food, and halfway into the run I had to search for a bathroom.
But all twelve miles got done in a little over two hours.
I'm starting to wonder if my sub-2 goal is too ambitious. It's really hard to say. I'm an inexperienced racer, but I can run a 10K in around 54 minutes, so if everything goes well, I should be okay. Huntsville is a fast course.
I found this podcast to be really interesting. Greg McMillan (yes, that one) talks about, among other things, whether a sub-2 goal is reasonable. My takeaway for myself was that it's really hard to say. It's my first one, and I have almost nothing to judge my speed or preparation. I think right now I'm hoping for sub-2, but I'll be pleased with anything under 2:15.
Achievement is weird, isn't it? Here I am, a beginning runner with no discernible natural talent, and running thirteen miles is almost already something I'm willing to regard as not really an achievement unless it's under a completely arbitrary time. Keeping this in mind is important, I think. A year ago, four months after a rough labor and delivery, I wasn't sure I'd be able to run at all. And now, I'm wondering how fast can I go?
Probably sub-2.
Unless I fuel with Timbits for a week first.
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