TriVeggies

I can hardly believe it’s here, but next weekend, a week from Saturday, I’ll toe the line at my first race of 2024.

As I’ve mentioned before on these pages, I didn’t do a ton of racing last year, so I feel both rusty and invigorated at the same time. To be honest, “invigorated” wins out – I’m downright pumped for my first race of the season, the Rock n Roll Washington DC half-marathon. It’s a race I’ve done for many years now and one I hope to keep in my repertoire for as long as it’s around. A tour of a beautiful city on a crisp March morning, andI get to sleep in my own bed the night before and be home by lunchtime? Where do I sign up?

This race has sometimes been blazing-hot; sometimes, I’ve been nearly overtaken by hypothermia at the finish line. Sometimes I’ve finished in (personal) record time; sometimes, I’ve come in 10 minutes after said PR time, feeling twinges of defeat alongside my sense of accomplishment. But either way, I’ve had a blast on course, soaking up the energy of the crowd and my fellow runners. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: It’s a great race.

This year, I’m coming into race week feeling pretty good indeed. Now, I’ve been at this long enough to know these feelings have their limitations; the common cold can creep up at any time, or I can break my toe on race week as I did before a half-Ironman one time, or I can just wake up feeling not quite myself. But those are all things I can’t control. What I CAN control is my training, and I’ve kept up with it quite nicely I think. I do know that last weekend’s long run was one of the best I’ve had in years, and the one before it was just as good. I also know that, following a season of going through the motions somewhat, I am now once again super-excited to get out on course and enjoy the day. If that enjoyment comes with a PR (which, by my count, is 2:41:58) or something close to it, so much the better, but either way I’m looking forward to having a bit of fun!

Will I see you at the race? Drop me a comment if so and I’ll keep my eyes out for you among the throngs! I’ll be the one in the FSU hat. 😉