Next race: The Wall

Well, I did it. I signed up for another race. I couldn't stand sitting around all winter waiting for the Mardi Gras Marathon, which is a full 2 months after my most recent marathon, the pretty awful Thunder Road in Charlotte. So I signed up for The Wall, a 30k the last weekend in January. Much like last year, I signed up for this race while out of shape and sick, thinking it would be an incentive. I think last year this is the race that nearly killed me. I was extremely injured - like, every part of my body - and got a bad bacterial infection after. This might have been related to running 18+ miles in bitter cold wind in capris and layered cotton T-shirts, since I didn't own any cold weather running clothes last year.
This is a picture of the course last year AFTER THE FINISH. At the start it was darker, colder, and bleaker. And the bridge looked even more like a torture instrument.

Just seeing this picture from last year gives me knee pain.

Now, I've come a long way running since last year. For one thing, I have two working knees as opposed to one knee and one water balloon full of tiny daggers. For another, I bought running tights. Take that, cold weather! I also have a few more long runs under my belt, by which I mean I've done a couple of marathons. I don't really do that well on the long runs if they aren't a race... which is precisely why I'm running The Wall.


This year, I have a few goals for The Wall.
1. Stay with the pack. Last year a large group of runners started early, allowing the state championship competitors to start together. I started late and ended up stranded right in the middle between the fast people and the slow people. Zero wind protection and zero companionship.
2.Start strong. I had only one long run under my belt last year and wasn't sure how to pace myself; combined with the rough head-wind I started out extremely slowly.
3. No Wall at the The Wall. I thought there was course support last year (because the flyer said there was) but there was only water. Or I was so slow there was only water left when I got there. My blood sugar plummeted. This year I'll bring Gu!
4. Beat my time from last year. Hahahahahaha! If I don't beat last year's pathetic time of 2:55 it means I walked it.

What's your next race? Do you use races for long runs? Have you ever had a horrible, terrible running experience and then willingly chose to recreate it? Hee hee.