Countdown

6 days and counting until the 2010 ING Rock & Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon! As I've stated before, I'm running this race with the great people of Team McGraw, and especially for my teammate Jen McDevitt, who's once again putting up a fight with another pesky tumor. We're gonna miss her there, but she will be on the minds of everyone on the team come Sunday.

Now, my training. My taper has begun - I did 8 miles (at least) this past Saturday afternoon. I say "at least" because I neglected to re-charge my Garmin, so I did the run by feel, and estimating my mileage. I ran it without knowing my pace, heart rate, or mileage, and I believe I ran about 8.25 miles at about a 9:20 pace. And felt good afterwards.

Today, I planned to run 4 miles, with the middle 2 miles at Tempo pace. I breezed through the run at an average heart rate befow 70% (good), and at a 9:22 total pace, which is below my projected race pace. Again, I feel good.

Wednesday, I plan on running another 4 miles, this time incorporating two half-mile repeats in the middle at 5K pace. Friday will be an easy 3 miles to wind down, and then it's race day on Sunday.

I'm very curious as to how I will perform on the flat Philly course on Sunday. I'm navigating the rolling hills of my neighborhood at race pace or below, so I'm confident that I can hit my mark. We shall see.