No Run Friday

I took a planned day off from work in order to take care of errands, most notable of which was to test drive a pair of cars. It's really been a drag having just one car. It takes all kinds of planning and scheduling to work out how to get both Joan and I to and from work, and also chauffeur kids to their obligations after work. So, I really need to resolve this car situation.

Unfortunately, other chores have aced out the test drive, which is extremely frustrating. I've rescheduled the appointment for tomorrow. Today, I'm picking up my race bib for the AFC. Doesn't look like I'll get in the light, short run this evening like I had hoped. Dave's birthday party is tonight, and it's starting up early...right after I pick up Joan from work.

That's okay. The die is cast anyway. My conditioning for Sunday is already in the bank. Nothing I can do to change it now. I go though oscillations, one day thinking I'm going to struggle and other days thinking I'll be fine. Today is one of the "fine" days and my optimism is high. Regardless of how I feel tomorrow, I hope I feel like I do today on Sunday.

After the AFC...then what? I'm tentatively booked with a team in the September MCRD bootcamp challenge, but that's more of a fun run, obstacle course thing. Yeah, it's competitive, but 3 miles over a confidence course is a hoot, not a race. After that, I'm supposed to do a 3x1 mile relay with Joan and Quin. That's more for them than it is me. I've got to get Joan working toward the "Race for the Cure" in November. That's also the target race for me to see if I can break the 5K 21 minute barrier. I'll be just weeks short of my 50th birthday, and it's the last goal for the "Run to 50."

I'm looking forward to starting the marathon training though with Clarence and Mike coaching. I'm going to wait until I've begun that program in September to register for the Carlsbad race. I thought the Carlsbad half marathon course was fairly easy, and so I figured the full marathon course would have the same character. But in looking over the course detail, there's quite a bit of elevation change as the course heads inland from the coast highway, which is something we didn't do when running the half. And that long rise occurs at a tough spot in the mileage. I thought I was picking an easy marathon to run my 2nd, but apparently not.

That's not going to deter me though. It's not like it's the Big Sur or Catalina marathon. I can do it. And this time I'll do it right.