If you didn’t know, my second marathon is in January 2019.

I decided that, this time around, I would run in a couple official (shorter) races before the big event, a half marathon, and a 10K or 15K (maybe both), just for the experience (and maybe place in my age bracket, which is how they do these races).

On the heels of yesterday’s post, I looked up and found a 10K race that would be happening closeby, South Beach to be exact, and it was less than 48 hours away.

I signed up.

I’m writing this the day before that race (check my Instagram for updates and results). I was surprised — and relieved — that the very thought of this 10K (which is 6.214 miles, barely even ¼ of a full marathon) is giving me the same pregame butterflies I used to get before playing in a basketball game.

Surprised because this is running, not basketball; I’m not as invested in this sport as I was in hoops. My ego is not tied nearly as closely to my running success as it was my basketball achievements. Unlike if this race were a basketball game, I’m not expecting to win the whole thing (there are more-serious runners than me out there, and “winning” in running isn’t as black-and-white is it is for basketball). I do want to finish Top-3 in my 35-39 age bracket, though (UPDATE: Done).

Relieved, because this positive anxiety tells me that I haven’t lost my competitive juice. I have an idea of what kind of time I’d need to finish in to place Top-3 in my group (you never know for sure, as you don’t know who the other participants are or how they’ll perform that day) and know I can get there; truthfully I expect the adrenaline to make me even faster than that.

We’ll see. By the time you read this, it’s happened.