This past Saturday I had some fun running in a 10-mile race in Charlotte. I haven’t done many of these in recent years, although I did run cross-country in high school, so Saturday’s race brought back great memories.
I found myself looking forward to the race as it approached. I even started analyzing how well I could do and actually felt some competitive butterflies. Even though it was just for fun, I still had a goal in my mind for how well I wanted to do.
There was a lot of preparation and strategy that went into the race, determining things like how I wanted to start, how hard I wanted to push, and what I wanted my average pace to be. You don’t want to burn yourself out or push too hard! The race was long enough that I could think about those things and settle into it. Running a race of this length actually shares a lot of similarities with endurance sports car racing: you have to focus on your task during any given stint!
I enjoyed myself and was proud of my result. I’ve always thought about doing a marathon or a half marathon, so this was a good start.
Right now I’m getting ready to head to the SpeedSource shop to prepare the final details for our upcoming test at Sebring. Our new teammate in the No. 70 Mazda for the 12 Hours of Sebring will be Marino Franchitti, so he’ll be testing with us and we’re excited to have him joining us with all the incredible experience he brings. I’m really looking forward to Sebring – I feel like it’s a really competitive track for Mazda, and there’s such a historic quality to the circuit and the 12 Hours. I’m excited to take what we learned from Daytona and continue to push forward. Be sure to check back next week for a recap of the test!