So there it is. I did my last training run this morning and all at this point I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be for Sunday. I’m pretty excited about the race and optimistic about setting a new personal best. I’ve trained hard and even though I took time off when I was on vacation I feel good about my level of fitness right now. With that in mind, I present my race goals:

• Goal #1: This is the dream goal – 1:55:00
• Goal #2: Set a new PB – <1:59:56
• Goal #3: Push hard and enjoy myself no matter what the pace

In order the achieve a finish time of 1:55:00 I need to run at an average pace of 8:46 min/mile or 5:27 min/km. That’s quick and to be honest I’m not sure I can do it. I’m a little worried that I’ll only be able to hold this pace for a while and then I’ll fade big time. But nothing ventured nothing gained right? My other concern is that the course has some rolling hills and most of my runs have been flat. My final concern is the weather, specifically the wind. I can handle running in the cold and the wet (hello, remember the Seattle half last year!) but the course is quite exposed in parts and high winds would not be fun. Here’s a sample of the current weather reports for Sunday in Victoria:

• weatheroffice.gc.ca: Rain. Windy. Low 11. High 15
• theweathernetwork.com: High 15, Rain at times heavy, POP 100%, Wind S 20 km/h, Low 10
• weather.com: High 12, Low 7, POP 30%, Few Showers

I’m bringing a wide selection of running clothes with me to Victoria and I’m just going to hope for the best!

Since this weekend in Canadian Thanksgiving, Matt and I are going to be heading to Vancouver after the race to hang out with friends and family there. It might take me a few days to get a race report up so in the meantime you’ll be able to check live race day results here. Just select Half Marathon from the drop down menu and then search for me either by name or use bib number 3523.

Finally no training cycle would be complete without a graph!