For Saturday’s 5K, I’m probably not going to significantly change my approach to the race from what I did for the Fitger’s 5K, but I do think I have a few ways to improve.

I still plan on getting up early, but I am not going to run on an empty stomach this time. I’ll have either a bagel or a granola bar, and then have some snacks afterward. Since this race isn’t 2 miles from my house, and I’m not driving myself, I can’t just come and go whenever I want to. (I just asked my mom and she said she wanted to leave by 7:30 and now I’m depressed.) I’m also not going to eat Chipotle the night before, even though that wasn’t a problem. I’m also going to have a water bottle to sip on pre-race and have a few mints or something beforehand.

I don’t really know what to wear. The high for the day is like 79F, but of course it won’t be that warm at the start. Since it has been in the low 50s or 40s all week here, I won’t be accustomed to this heat! (Ha.) I will probably wear a long sleeved shirt and then make my mother hold it while I am running. This is very adult of me, I know.

The biggest change I plan on making is warming up beforehand. I’ll have plenty of time, since we have to get there so early in order to get a parking spot. I know I sort of laughed at people warming up last time, but I don’t plan on doing hill repeats or anything wacky. It took me awhile to connect the dots, but it dawned on me that if the first mile or so of my training runs is always one of the worst, I could prevent that in a race by warming up and getting the crummy mile out of my legs before the race starts. So, I plan on running a warmup mile (or less) at an aerobic pace.

Otherwise, I plan on racing the same way. I’ll line up at the back, try to keep from going out too fast, and save a little kick for the end. I’m feeling great and my legs felt speedy yesterday during my hill workout (the deer were back, but they left me alone this time), so I hope I can get a decent night’s sleep Friday night and tear up the pavement.