Zeno's Paradox
March 28, 2004 - Shamrock Shuffle Prerace Commentary and Thoughts

Later this morning, I'll be running my first race in a few years, the Shamrock Shuffle. It's an eight kilometer course (4.97 miles) through downtown Chicago. It's a relatively flat and quick course as the course map indicates. I'm not really in running shape, but my overriding goal is to run the entire thing without having to stop to walk. I figure that this can be a good indicator for finding out exactly the shape I am in, and I'm hoping that if this goes well, it will serve as motivation for me to train for other running races here in the Windy City.

Some other thoughts:

- After the goal of running the entire course, my next goal is to run my miles in under eight minutes each. I figure that is a decent initial starting time for a slob like me, and hopefully I can finish the entire course in under forty minutes.

- The weather is looking nice and I should be full of enough energy to do this. I've done some strategic carb loading this week so I have enough energy reserves and I'm not hampered by a lack of energy.

- There are a couple of things that could stop me. First off, I have problems with my ankles when I've run in the past. The problem is that they are just weak at the moment and running stresses them out more than my normal activities. Ditto on the knees. However, should they present problems, I'm hoping push past it and hope that the race is short enough that it won't matter.

- I'm debating whether I should listen to my iPod while running. On one hand, it was nice to have while I was practice running earlier. On the other hand, I've never run a race while listening to it. I could use it as a timing device, but I doubt that I'll be lacking for time indicators throughout the course. My gut is currently telling me to pass on it this time.

- The hand has been healing nicely and I doubt that it will be a problem during the race.

- I'm planning on running "blind" - that is, without my glasses. I can see well enough to get around without them, and having them get all slippy and sweaty is just too much of a pain.

So, that's the prerace commentary. Stay tuned for race results and postrace commentary.

Posted by br284 at 07:10 AM

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