Mercedes Half Marathon, Part Deux

So I arrived in Birmingham yesterday afternoon despite my concerted thoughts of pulling out of the race. This week was a total wash. I was struck by the flu bug and found myself bed ridden most of Tuesday and Wednesday. I mustered together enough energy for a run on Thursday but an hour later I was beat. This didn't bode well with me.

I visited the chiropractor on Friday in an attempt to unlodge my jammed back. Ouch. That hurt. Maybe I really should ice it at night because it is irritating today. Over the past 10-14 days I have developed the oddest problem in my left quad. It honestly feels like I have a dead muscle. It almost feels numb from time to time. It didn't bother me on last week's run but I constantly feel it when I am walking around. As if I didn't have enough issues right now....

I am so unthrilled and unmotivated about tomorrow. Obviously, this isn't how I wanted to approach my first race. Common sense tells me to completely pullout of the race but I am too stubborn for that. For whatever reason, I find comfort inflicting pain. Fortunately, between the illness and injury, I should have enough to slow me down and force me to hold back in the race.

So my plan is to run SLOW. My goal is to run a 2:05. That puts me at a 9:30 pace. That should be plenty slow and safe. THEN, I will come back for ING and try to shave a lot of time off.