Sounds to me like you have not prepared very well for any of your races Nettie, and that is surely a good part of the reason you have not done well. In order to race well you need to train well. And you won't be capable of training well in just two weeks.<br><br>
If this race doesn't mean anything to you, my advice is to try something aggressive here. Try going out at a reasonable pace, but pick it up over the first mile or two until you are doing 10<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/mad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Mad">x. You decide what "xx" is going to be. Once you are at that pace you should hold it for as long as you can. My rule of thumb is if I can make it to the 9 mile point without hurting then I can hold pace until the end of the race by making my brain tell my feet to keep moving and not walk. So if you manage to run at 10<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/mad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Mad">x until the 9 mile point you have it made. Just hold that pace by telling yourself you are not tired enough to slow down, and keep on choogling. If you have trouble maintaining focus you can always fix your eyes on the small of the back of the person in front of you and try to slowly reel them in. I guarantee you that technique will get you a couple places lower in the finish totem. Just focus on their back and keep trying to SSLLOOWWLLYY catch them. When you are finally up to them you need to give a little burst and pull around them and then slowly pull away.<br><br>
You may notice that I am focusing on the psychological side of the race. That's because I don't think you can do much more on the physical side at this late date. Mental preparation is about all you can do now. But it will help you run a better race, because it sounds like you are as well prepared for this one as you have ever been in the past.<br><br>
Good luck.<br><br>
Not sure how those creepy smilies got in there, but just substitute with a race pace.
If this race doesn't mean anything to you, my advice is to try something aggressive here. Try going out at a reasonable pace, but pick it up over the first mile or two until you are doing 10<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/mad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Mad">x. You decide what "xx" is going to be. Once you are at that pace you should hold it for as long as you can. My rule of thumb is if I can make it to the 9 mile point without hurting then I can hold pace until the end of the race by making my brain tell my feet to keep moving and not walk. So if you manage to run at 10<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/mad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Mad">x until the 9 mile point you have it made. Just hold that pace by telling yourself you are not tired enough to slow down, and keep on choogling. If you have trouble maintaining focus you can always fix your eyes on the small of the back of the person in front of you and try to slowly reel them in. I guarantee you that technique will get you a couple places lower in the finish totem. Just focus on their back and keep trying to SSLLOOWWLLYY catch them. When you are finally up to them you need to give a little burst and pull around them and then slowly pull away.<br><br>
You may notice that I am focusing on the psychological side of the race. That's because I don't think you can do much more on the physical side at this late date. Mental preparation is about all you can do now. But it will help you run a better race, because it sounds like you are as well prepared for this one as you have ever been in the past.<br><br>
Good luck.<br><br>
Not sure how those creepy smilies got in there, but just substitute with a race pace.
