Should I be nervous?

Sunday: Scattered showers and a high of 62...winds West 12mph.

I'm not so worried about the possibility of rain...i did go to undergrad near Seattle. I know I won't melt if I get rained on, but the wind...hmmmmm...not so sure about that one. Everything else is pretty awesome running weather. Overcast, 60ish...very nice. Not like this last weekend where I spent Sunday in August like conditions at an Earth Day festival trying to convince people that science is good and by learning about it they can help the environment. It was pretty hot though.

This Sunday is La Jolla Half Marathon. I can't decide if I should be nervous or not. I'm tapering for it...so I am sure some of the antsy-ness will settle in come later in the week.La Jolla is a hilly half marathon with a pretty gnarly hill at mile 6...420 ft of climbing in a mile and a lot of other hills along the way. It doesn't sound like that much, but it is a pretty nasty hill. I did preview it a few weeks ago on my long run, it'll be interesting.

I think what has come up the most with me about this race is the FACT it is hilly and the reality that this is the first time post psoas injury/post grad school/and into a new life that I have actually trained for a season.

In 2006 I trained for and went sub 2 for a half mary at Hartford, but between 2006 and now I: fell down the stairs (and subsequently stopped running for a month or so), gradschool went down hill pretty fast over the next 8 months Jan 2007-Aug2007, I finally graduated Aug 2007, I moved to SD Sept 2007, I injured my psoas Nov 2007, I thought about quitting triathlons April 2008, My training philosopy from April 2008-Dec2008 was pretty much summed up in one word: whatever.

I did some crossfit, i rode my bike when I felt like it, I met up with KatieB. on Friday's to ocean swim (but rarely actually swam in a pool otherwise), I fell in love with the velodrome and BOUGHT a track bike. And in someways looking back on where I was personally and emotionally post-gradschool...it was probably the best thing for me to do: whatever.

Things started to shift in the fall...I signed up for Vineman 70.3, (granted...I should say I signed up again because in 2008 my hip was not getting better fast and it just wasn't the right time for me to tackle the HIM distance yet) I became part of Team Barney Butter (and part sponsored), I hired a coach (which I never in a million years thought I would every do) and now I am actually training.

But the funny thing about actually training is i'm actually getting faster. Imagine that...funny how that works sometimes. I'm running really well right now and I realized the other day I'm kinda pissed La Jolla isn't flatter because I know I would PR on it if it were a flat course. I almost PR'd 13.1 miles the other week when I was just doing my long run...just one minute off and I wasn't really trying.

Granted with the monster downhill after the gnarly uphill...anything can happen. I don't actually think it is completely out of reach, but I do need to have a good day to make it happen. So i'm hoping for a good day.

Am I nervous...ask me in a few days.