Don’t Rain on My Half Marathon Parade

On Sunday, I will complete my four half marathon at the Glass City Marathon in Toledo, Ohio. I’ve been training since February for this race and I think I’m ready. I had a few low mileage weeks due to my crazy work schedule. But I was still able to do three 10 mile long runs, weekly tempo workouts and a few speed workouts.

The only thing that really has me worried is the weather – the weather forecasters are predicting rain. While thunderstorms don’t appear to be on the radar, I’m not looking forward to running for two hours in the rain. Now I’ve run in the rain several times before but it’s not my favorite past time and it was usually for less than an hour.

Rain can change my whole game plan. It makes me question what I’m going to wear. I usually wear black Capri tights and the race’s technical tee but now I’m not so sure. It is suppose to be in the 50s but if it rains, I’ll probably be chilly. But if I wear long sleeves or a jacket, I’ll probably get hot after 3 – 4 miles. Most likely I’ll end up wearing a black jacket and wrapping it around my waist. Plus I’ll throw on a visor to help keep the rain out of my face.

There are so many unknown variables with rain. How will the wet clothing and shoes affect my pace? I think most of the race course is paved so I don’t think I’ll have to deal with mud but what about puddles? I was hoping to shave a minute off my previous half marathon PR of 2:06 but we’ll see. Check back on Monday to see how it went. Wish me luck!