Race day coming up

Just two day ago I found out that my 5K race is not on 27 March as I for some reason assumed, but 17 March. In other words, next Saturday!

Thorsten and I went down into the city yesterday afternoon so that I could register for the race and pay the registration fee at the Irish pub that's sponsoring the event. We're going back to the pub next Friday to pick up my bib (the number that hangs on your chest) as well as a complimentary t-shirt and sweatshirt (great souvenirs). So now it's official. I am still waiting for my name to be added to the list.

So now I only have a little more than a week left to train. It's smart to avoid any training the last couple of days before a race, so in reality I don't have more than four runs left (I still only run every other day). In other words, it really doesn't matter much what I do at this point. (That doesn't stop me from debating whether to do longs runs (10 km), do trial 5k runs to test my time and have some idea of what kind of speed I should aim for, or do interval training.)

Thorsten is also finally running again, though this time around he is forcing himself to take it easy (doing no more than 4.5 km at a time, every other day), as he doesn't want to risk getting inured again. So far his ankle is doing just fine.

I'm looking forward to next weekend. Though it needs to be said: as I have only been running for a measly month or so since my four-month break, I am not expecting to be very fast. That's what I keep telling myself, anyway -- though as Thorsten likes to remind me, I am a lousy loser. As such, I'd probably be unhappy with anything slower than 25 minutes. It remains to be seen if that's too ambitious.

Regardless, It'll be fun to see how much an American race differs from the one Norwegian race I've been to. Hopefully I won't wake up with a throat infection this time around, and Thorsten won't have to drag a sick, whiny and extremely reluctant girlfriend to the race... I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Getting ready to run:

Trying to explain to Thorsten why he shouldn't take a picture from that angle as it'll give me a double chin:

Thorsten leaving to do his three rounds in the park: