The Broad St. 10 miler is just about here. I’m looking forward to it – though thanks to about 16,999 other runners, I’m dreading the wall of people guaranteed to clog the start. It’ll be an automatic PR since it’s my first 10M race, but I’d still like a fighting chance to do my best.

So I’m thinking of doing things differently this race. Instead of my usual scurrying/weaving around slower people at the beginning, I would like to not waste that energy, instead keeping myself contained, then speeding up as an opening occurs. The problem with that is I don’t trust myself to be able to surge later and make up for lost time…will I have the energy? This method scares me but I’m sure it’s the best way to run the race.

Cluster-fuck in mind, I have two goals; one that I can live with and one I think I could get if everything went hunky-dory. Here’s hoping either of those occur.

Meanwhile, my ankle thing that made itself known exactly a month ago (and which I’ve finally accepted as my first real injury) has just now stopped being a source of worry. It’s a tendon strain that didn’t want to heal, which wasn’t helped since I wouldn’t take 2 consecutive days off in a row. I finally got more serious with icing and ibuprofen (600 twice a day for 4 days) and started wearing an ankle wrap at home so I wouldn’t inadvertently point my foot, which aggravated it.

My plan was to get through Broad St. and then if I needed to see a doctor, do it right afterwards since my racing season would pretty much be over anyway (save for one Garmin-less 5K I’d like to do mid-May). Looks like that won’t be necessary (whew!) but with every little niggle and twinge I’ve been dealing with, it’s made me insanely grateful for the fact that I can run at all. Every step is a beautiful thing.

So as far as running, last week after my nice tempo run, I took it pretty easy. I managed to get a 13-miler in last Sunday, which because of races and ankle crap, was the longest I’d gone in all of April! This was unusual for me, because I really enjoy going longer, but I had to be prudent.

In the end, I came out with 44 miles for the week, 10 less than I’d originally scheduled, but the most I’ve run this month. It’s a pain in the ass to be hobbled!!

Yesterday I did my last pre-race speed session (ala Tinman), whose advice I highly respect (though I’m only following the last week of his advice). So I did 4xmile at race pace, but added a minute to the recoveries since that advice was given to a faster runner. It was fun to do them at 10M pace, like doing tempo intervals, so it didn’t feel anything like a speed session.

Today and tomorrow I’m up for 6, then Friday has 5 with 3 200m strides and then a day off.

Lara and I will hit the expo on Friday where we’ll each get an exciting bonus gift since the race is sponsored by Blue Cross and Lara and I are both members. OMG…it’s a free pair of Blue Cross socks! Can’t wait.

Then Saturday it’s pasta dinner with a lovely group of forum friends (oh, how I love those forum get-togethers) and Sunday, the race. But I’ll pop in here before then. Who knows, those Blue Cross socks might deserve an entry of their own.

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