I'm screwed.

If you had asked me what my goals were going to be for the Brooklyn half when I signed up for it I would have enthusiastically listed my a, b, and c goals for the day - a being if everything went great during training and the weather and my body were feeling great on race day and c probably would have involved just besting my current PR of 2:17:43.  "Why?" you ask.  Well, I began preparing with what I felt was enough time, I now have the confidence of having completed a marathon under my belt, and the course is supposed to be incredibly fast [mostly flat].

Alas, if you're one of my [deeply appreciated] readers, you're familiar with my excuses this go round - work getting busier, lots of travel, and moving apartments (prep for/moving/unpacking), etc.  I knew a lot of these things would be coming up when I signed up for the race, but I somehow figured that I'd find a way to prioritize the running the way I did for the marathon.  Guess that didn't quite factor in how tough it'd be this time around.

Anyway, point being...I had a not so nice visit from reality this weekend when I ran the UAE Healthy Kidney 10k.  I finished the hilly course about a minute and a half faster than my last race on the exact same one - the Scotland 10k.

(remember the Scotland 10k?  I'll re-paste an awesome photo of our hot pink plaid socks in case you've forgotten)

So...you ran faster than last time....what are you whining about?  Yes, yes - faster = a good thing. Even if it was still about a half minute per / mile off of the 10k pace I was running when I did my 9 + 1.  The big concern here, though, was how hard it felt.  I barely made it to the finish line and felt awful for a good portion of the run.  A far cry from how well the 6 - 8 milers I did in Central Park went back in the beginning of this race training cycle (if you can even call it that given how little I've done).  And the 3 miles I ran yesterday and 3 miles 2.7 miles I did on the hotel treadmill tonight before quitting [pathetic]?  Same thing.  My legs feel like lead.  How did this running thing get soooooo hard again so fast?

I'm bummed because my friend Jen is coming this weekend and a bunch of my girlfriends will be running the race, so I really was excited for it and am disappointed that now I'm just dreading figuring out how I will possibly drag myself [i mean that] to the finish line.  

Jen and I celebrating at a billionaire's [no, seriously] rockstar party after my first 20 miler.  If I can dance the night away in heels after a 20 miler, maybe I'm tougher than I thought...maybe Brooklyn will be mine?  I'm Ron Burgundy?

But, the good news is there will be other races.  Yeah, it sucks that there might not be another course as fast as this in my near future, but c'est la vie, right?  And in the meantime, I think that maybe it makes sense for me to readjust my goals as soon as this darn race is over.  It seems like I'm in a good place to focus on getting faster at shorter distances [can't wait to try a couple of the Runner's World speed workouts from the February issue!]  for the near future, and waiting to take on a longer distance until the fall.  Maybe once all of this flailing through the half nonsense is over I will consult with Coach Dad on that...

Good luck to everyone who DID do a good job preparing - get out there and smoke those Brooklyn roads this weekend!