Parks Half Marathon

Today I registered for the Parks Half Marathon. The race is on September 24, and I plan to use it as a gauge of my fitness before the marathon. After registering and perusing the web site, I started to wonder about all of the amenities. I don't care about a special shirt, I don't care about a party afterwards, and I don't care about themed water stops. It's a race. All I want to do is get from the start to the finish as fast as I can. None of the so-called amenities I listed above will help me do that. If I could find another half-marathon to run, I'd do it. Baltimore has one in mid-October, but I'd rather run one a little further out, and not only would running in Baltimore likely require a night in a hotel, the race is also $30 more expensive than the Parks. Two years ago I ran a great half marathon at the end of September in Fredericksburg, but that race has since moved to December.

My training over the last week has been so-so. I've felt really tired, which is especially odd considering my mileage has not been particularly high. Part of me wants to see if I can run through it and come out the other side in one piece, but part of my also wants to take two easy days and see if that helps, and that side of me won. So this morning I ran seven miles with some strides afterwards, and tomorrow the plan is six followed by some strides.