Getting Ready for the Santa Clarita Half Marathon

I will be running the Santa Clarita Half Marathon on Sunday. This will be my 3rd HM that I have run and I will be making an attempt to break the 2 hour mark. Is it possible? I would like to think so, after all, I just need to run 9:16/miles, which is a pace I can run very easily. Last weekend I did 2 runs (6.2 miles and 5.25 miles) both run at a 9:00/mile pace. Felt good after both runs and feel that I will be able to sustain that pace for 13.1 miles. There is a slight incline at mile 1 and then again from mile 6-9, but mile 9-12 has a slight decline. I may have to slow up a bit going uphill and make it up on the downhill. I am going to start out carrying my own bottle of gatorade so I can bypass the first 3-4 water stops. I used that strategy in the Disneyland Half and it worked well by avoiding those early, overcrowded water stations.

This week I have kept the mileage to just over 3 miles per day and will make my last run on Friday morning. I will have a race report on Sunday or Monday...my goal 1:59:59.