Race Fans, Start Your Engines....

So I'm racing 3 times in the next four weeks... This wasn't intentional, but there are 3 races I really want to do. Moreover, after this month, marathon training takes precedence over weekend racing whims, so this is it.

Here's the line-up, with goals.

May 31st - Lancaster Red Rose Run - 5 miles. Last year, I had a miserable blow-up in that one. This year, I'm in much better shape. My 5 mile PR from last year was 34:11 and this time around, I'm going hard for a sub 33 on a tough course. Based on last year's time, this still would put me two minutes off an AG award. However, I'm running on a swift team, and we're going hard for the Corporate Team Award.

June 15th - Smith's Challenge 10k Trail Race - Tough course - here's last year's blog post. I'm going for something bold here - 48-something if the Gods are willing. Two things: first, I'm in way better shape. Second - and more important - in the past year, these trails have pretty much become my "home course." I run them an average of one time every week and sometimes, more often. I've gotten used to the technical parts of these runs and my "easy" runs on these trails have gotten much quicker. I'll settle for anything under 50 - still a 4 minute course PR - but am hopeful for 48 or so.

June 21st - Solanco Alumni Cross Country Meet - I've never done this one, but I'm looking forward to it. I haven't run a 5k cross country meet in a long time - uh, like 19 years? So, I've got no predictions, other than hold my own.

My last time on the "speaking circuit" of the forseable future is next week, too. I'll be speaking at SIPA in Washington, DC, just before a certain celebrity. Note to self: don't run long.

So that will be June: speaking and racing. From July on out, it's all about the long run, though.

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