Practice Run w/the Footlocker Team

Yesterday I went on a 6 mile run with 3 of my 5 Foot Locker Challenge teammates. The event organizers suggested we meet for a run before the actual marathon to practice running in a group at the same pace. One of the guys was out of town and another lives way up north near my office, so just the four of us who live fairly close met in Balboa Park for our practice run.

I have to admit, I was looking forward to checking out the competition to determine what my chances were in taking the title. Of the three that I met, I think the only other girl on the team will be my stiffest competition. She's about my age, played college volleyball, and has a marathon PR (personal record) of 3:54. She's shooting to finish in 3:45 for this race. Yikes! The next guy is in his 40's, has run several marathons, and has a PR of 4:30. He seems to be driven like an animal though and was the one who was leading us charging up and down dirt and gravel trails for an hour. I'm hoping that his gusto is short-lived and that endurance is his problem. :o) I'm so nice. The third guy was also in his 40's and has run one other marathon and has completed a few half Ironmans. Wow. He was struggling keeping up the pace that we were running at though and we had to wait for him a couple times. (Can't say I totally minded. We were charging up a long, steep hill at the same pace we kept on flat ground. Sheesh I was tired!) I wonder what will happen in the actual marathon if we start to lose someone. They say we're supposed to run the first half as a group, but I can't imagine that we're all supposed to slow down if one lags significantly behind?

The run overall was pretty fun. I do the majority of my runs alone and its always a struggle for me to keep pushing myself by myself. I've recently started using the Virtual Training Partner feature on my Garmin Forerunner GPS watch which is pretty fun. You can set a goal of either Distance/Pace or Distance/Time and then you race this little stick figure. Along the way you can see if you're ahead or behind and by how far. Its cute too because when you stop running your little stick figure bends over and puts his hands on his knees like he's catching his breath. Yes, I did just say I have fun racing a stick figure on my watch.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to meeting the other two members. I think the next time we will be together will be on Friday when we have the press events. I can't believe the marathon is now a week from today. I've been training for 11 weeks now and I'm ready to get to race day and put to test all of my hard work! I remember before the start of my first marathon the announcer at the start line said something along the lines that the hard work was all behind us. The race was going to be easy in comparison. In a way that is true. Training almost everyday for months is hard and its tiring. Life gets in the way sometimes and its challenging to make adjustments and stay on schedule. The marathon in comparison is just one day. One more run. Okay, the longest run and the most important, but its one last day to give it your all after days, weeks, and months of running running running. I'm ready and I'm excited!