When the announcement for the brand new Dulles Day 5K on the Runway was made back in July, I immediately got excited about the opportunity to run on an airport runway. Not only will this be a unique experience because of the location of the race itself, but it’ll likely be one of the flattest courses I ever run on.

My goal for my last couple of 5Ks has been to complete the race in under an 11:00 min/mile pace. My Rock ‘n’ Roll Mini Marathon pace was 11:20 min/mile, and my 9/11 Memorial 5K pace was 11:02 (recap to come soon). Over the past two weeks I’ve been able to prove to myself that despite the horrible heat and humidity, I can still persevere and do the best I can. Although at neither race did I meet my goal pace (I was so close at last Saturday’s 9/11 Memorial 5K!), I want to take one last stab at this goal pace before summer officially ends. The weather forecast for tonight and tomorrow is much more runner friendly than it has been for my recent races (tonight’s low is predicted to be 53 degrees!), so I’m hopeful for tomorrow morning’s race. This week’s 5K treadmill runs have been well below an 11:00 min/mile pace, so I know that I’m physically capable of this pace, and now I just need to prove it to myself on race day.

The stats for this week’s treadmill runs, which include my post 5K cool down

My other goal, like it is for most other races, is to have fun. This will be such a unique racing experience, and since registration was capped at 2,000 people, its sure to be a more intimate, and hopefully more rewarding, experience.

Tomorrow morning, I will be running for the disabled. The primary beneficiary of tomorrow morning’s race proceeds is Special Olympics, an organization devoted to providing children and adults with intellectual disabilities a forum through which to participate in sports. Although Special Olympics isn’t available through Charity Miles, Achilles International is, which is devoted to helping the disabled be able to participate in mainstream athletic activities.

Right now I’m off to packet pickup to get my race rib Less than 17 hours I’ll be off and running on the runway at Dulles International Airport!