Woo hoo!

Really, really not long to go now!

Wednesday's run sucked. It should have been 10 miles, and I was doing okay until about mile 6, when my insides went into meltdown, and I had to change my route (since the other half was running with me, there was no chance of calling for a ride home) and ended up carefully walking the last half mile home. But I took comfort from the fact that at least I felt good until then.

Thursday's run was fantastic, although I've made a foolish error and I'm just waiting to see if I'm going to be punished for it on Sunday's half marathon race. We did a 10.21 mile run, and at a pretty good pace of 8 mins 31 seconds (making a total of 1 hour 27 minutes for the whole distance). Even though we've had better paces on other runs, I'm pleased because I felt good, and strong, and like I could have happily covered another 3 miles (although it would have taken me 1 hour 53 minutes at that pace).

But I wasn't aiming for the fastest time ever; that's what races are for. I just wanted to cover the distance, and we did, although right now my legs are quite achy. And thats my daft mistake - I managed to get confused about what day it was! I was under the impression that yesterday was Wednesday. If I'd clocked earlier on that it was Thursday, I wouldn't have done such a long run. I reckon I should be fine for Sunday but I'm officially resting up now until the race (I'll just go for a bit of a longer dog walking session tomorrow to stretch my legs).

I think I'm on a bit of a running high since discovering late Wednesday that its actually possible for me, as a non-US citizen, to enter the ballot for the NYC marathon. I'd fallen under the impression that it was only possible to do NYC from the UK by running for charity and raising £2,000 +, or paying some travel company around £1000 for race entry and flights and a couple of nights in a hotel (which is quite a bit over the odds, in my opinion).

It turns out that its a ballot, and I can enter just like anyone else, and after three rejections in a row, I'm in automatically! If I was a good bit faster, and could do a 7 minute mile, I could get in with a qualifying half marathon time of 1 hour 34 minutes, but I don't think thats likely to happen, and even if it did, the poor other half would have to get round the same distance in 1 hour 21 minutes...ouch!

So I'll be applying for 2007, then 2008, then 2009 - and trundling NYC in 2010! I've a 1 in 4 chance of getting in before then, but since I've never won anything in a raffle (except a packet of handkerchiefs as a kid), I'm not anticipating getting in via the ballot before my automatic "wow, you must really want to do this, huh?" place kicks in.