I think it’s rained 13 out of the 15 days so far this year.  The first rainy week was warm but stormy.  The second rainy week is cold and misty.  So much for getting a few extra jogs in before the first race of the year; although, I’m not that much worried about 5Ks anymore.  This particular course will be flat and fast for sure.  Fewer turns which is good.  Just a straight out and back via two main streets.

The real test comes up with the 10K.  I’m signed up for three already in two states and looking at a fourth one in an additional state.  Turning the 5K 50 State challenge into a 10K certainly made it a little more difficult and not only because I’m doubling the race length.  I have no doubt I’ll master the 10K after a few tries (no world records for sure, but I’ll feel good about completing the race in a respectable time after a few attempts).  The hardest part honestly is going to be that there are probably less than half the number of 10Ks around the country than 5Ks.  While it would have been easy to pick a 5K in virtually any state at any time of the year, the 10Ks leave less room to be picky and require a lot more advance notice and planning.  Some locations might only have one two 10Ks in any given month or perhaps a handful of times per year.  Not to mention, racing in two 10Ks back to back in neighboring states will be a challenge as well.  I may have to pick races near holidays to take advantage of that strategy, of flying into a city, running a 10K, driving a short distance to a neighboring state and running a second in the same 3 or 4 day holiday weekend.  While 5K races are scheduled constantly all of the country, 10K races appear to only be bunched up around holidays and select weekends.  So perhaps this will be a challenge in itself and make it that much more adventurous to complete.  My biggest worry is deciding about half way through that I want to advance to half marathons.  Haha.

NEXT RACE: Saturday, January 19th – Advocate Cypress 5K (local)