All Signed Up!! Ready to Go??

Well, I finally pulled the trigger.  I am officially signed up to run my first race since the accident.  I thought that my first race should be the 10k by the Bay out of Warwick, RI, so I went ahead and registered.  I felt this would be a good race back for a number of reasons.  1)  Familiarity.  I have run this race twice before and know pretty much exactly what to expect.  Interestingly enough, the race this year takes place about three weeks later then in previous years; great for me since it will fall on the tail end of a vacation week.  Even little things, like knowing where to park, where the water stations on the course will be, and where to warm up can make a big difference.  2) Course.  I will go a little more into detail about the course itself when I post about the race report, but I can tell you this much about the course right now.  It is flat.  Pancake flat.  I mean if you step up on a curb, that will be your only elevation.  I have done about 98% of my training on a treadmill, mostly because I am still a little leary of running with traffic.  I have done all of this treadmill training without hitting the incline button, so a flat course offers a great deal of optimistic comfort.  3)  Past Success.  My 10k PR is at this race; 52:52 three years ago.  I am very confident I will not come anywhere near time, but it would be a great boost to my morale to put in a decent time.  I am hoping for under 70:00; I think for a first race in sixteen months this is not too much to ask.

As I eluded to before, the vast majority of my training has been treadmill based.  I have hit 10k on the treadmill a few times, but I have yet to do it outside in real life since the accident.  This is really my only concern.  Even if I did not hit that 70 minute mark, a DNF would have to be considered a fail.  I am going to try for a training run of 10k tomorrow, just for the sake of knowing I can pull it off.  I think the course I am going to try is very hilly, so a finish would help my psyche a great deal.  I will try to post on Wednesday with an update on both training and how I am feeling.

Thanks for reading.