KDF miniMarathon Preview

 

The first race that I ever competed in was the Kentucky Derby Festival mini Marathon back in 1998. I've done this race a total of five times now, which is more than any other. I think of this race as my arch-nemesis, my Kryptonite. Out of the five times I've run it, I've only crossed the finish line happy once...and that was back in 2000, when I inexplicably managed to run 8:09 miles despite running at a 8:34/mile pace in a 15K (9.3 miles) a few weeks earlier.

Here's what my race results from the KDF miniMarathon look like:
1998 - 2:13:59
2000 - 1:46:50
2001 - 1:50:51
2009 - 2:09:22
2010 - 1:46:30

As you can see, the times are all over the place. For whatever reason, I never seem to be able to put together a good race when I line up this last Saturday in April. I've always felt good as I stand there waiting for the gun, but something just doesn't go right and I end up disappointed when the 13.1 mile journey is complete.

This year will be different! It's time for revenge. I will in fact be talking smack to the race itself as I run. Some things that I'll say will not be written here or repeated around my children!

Although I've said this the last two years, I feel like there's nothing that can stop me from setting a PR tomorrow morning. My PR for this race is 1:46:30 and for this distance is 1:43:39...both will fall tomorrow. My goal is to finish around 1:40:00. The weather should be warm, but not too warm. The course has changed and is flat and doesn't have too many turns. I'm in corral B, so I shouldn't have too many people to navigate through during the first few miles. This is my last running only race until the fall, so I plan on dominating!!

As I side note, I want to say good luck to my sister-in-law Becca. She will be running the full marathon tomorrow morning! She just started running around a year ago and decided to jump right into a full 26.2 mile marathon without even running a half first. That's her style - set big goals and then go out and smash them!!