What an incredible year 2013 has been for running. I’ve run further, had more fun and set PB’s at all three of my races. Tomorrow I’ll be aiming for another PB at the 2013 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon – my fourth and final race of the year. I feel really confident going into this race and right now I’m really anxious to get going.

Goals for the 2013 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon:

Goal 1 – Sub 1:40 (PB) finish
Goal 2 – Sub 1:42 finish
Goal 3 – Have fun running with so many awesome people

My training paces have increased a little from earlier in the year so I’ve been training at a 4:40/km goal race pace (VDOT 46). When I ran the Chilly Half Marathon back in March, I averaged a 4:48/km pace and came in at 1:41 and change. Now that I’m running 8 seconds per kilometre faster, I think my goal of running a sub 1:40 half is very doable. My predicted finish time is actaully 1:38:27.

Race plan:

Once I get locked into my goal pace, I plan to stay there until 2/3 of the way though. If I feel really good at that point I may increase the pace a few seconds. At the 19km mark I’m definitely going to push the pace and finish strong. For race fuel I’m sticking with the same plan that’s worked well all year. I will refuel every 30min (dried figs and hummus/olive wraps) and take a few sips of water when needed. With the cooler temperature I may only need to sip water after an hour.

I have a lot of friends running the Scotia this year and I’m really excited to be running with all of them. The conditions look ideal so hopefully they’ll be a lot of new PB’s set at this race. Stay tuned for the full race report.