Saturday, November 18, 2006

Half Mary, Hail Mary

Tomorrow is it.  The last half mary of the year for me, and the one that counts the most.  I’m shooting for a 2:10 overall, which I belive to be attainable.  My biggest unknown is being able to fall into a 10 minute mile and stay there.  I know I can run faster, I know I can run slower, but if I miscalculated anything in my training, it’s simply what a 10 minute mile “feels” like over the long, slow distance. 

Having said that, I’m going to have to improvise a little in the first few miles, speeding up and slowing down as needed.  I’m hoping by the time I meet up with my father-in-law at mile 9, I’ll largely be on pace to hit my target.  A little pang of nervousness prevails actually, as I’ve never planned and trained for a race with such high expectation of meeting my goal.  I also know that anything can happen, just like practicing a Beethoven sonata hundreds of times doesn’t necessarily guarantee anything at the recital itself.  You practice piano for the same reason you practice running:  to mitigate the risk of disaster once you’re on the stage.

Tomorrow feels, for the first time, like the recital.

See you in the green room.