Tomorrow morning Barry and I will be running the Blue Ridge Half Marathon. This is our fourth year in a row running the race, and it’s a tough one. Last year they added a second mountain to the half marathon course, making it ‘America’s Toughest Road Half Marathon.’ But there’s just something about this race that keeps us coming back year after year.

I feel like I’ve been singing this tune all year thus far, but my training is still not where I had expected it to be. I didn’t get in the base building or training I had hoped, but at least I had a great long trail run (which involved a mountain) the weekend before last. They always say you’re better undertrained than overtrained, although I don’t think they meant this undertrained. Despite that, I’m really excited for the race!

Blue Ridge has always been a great experience these past three years. The race is very challenging, and I think that gives you an extra sense of accomplishment when you make it to the finish.

My dad and my littler sister are coming down for the race and to visit this weekend. I will be heading up to Roanoke later this afternoon to meet up with them, grab some food, and then hit the race expo to pickup our packets for tomorrow. This is what we will be facing in the morning:

In light of my less-than-ideal training, I have a new strategy this year. I will be invoking a 0.1 run/0.1 walk pattern on the way up Mill Mountain (the first major climb). I also hope to use this on the second climb up Peakwood (miles 8-10), although that one gets really steep for the final half mile. I used this strategy while climbing Brush Mountain two weekends ago and it worked really well for me. Hopefully it will help me conserve energy tomorrow.

Overall, I plan to go fast enough to get there but slow enough to enjoy the views (I saw that quote on Instagram, but I can’t find it now!). That will be my story anyway.

Who else is racing this weekend? We’re expecting warm and muggy temp’s tomorrow morning.