It’s 5:18 AM, and I’m in the middle of my pre-race routine—eating some toast with peanut butter and honey (what you were thinking…). The Cowtown Half Marathon is this morning, and as you all know, this is my first half marathon. I’m excited, and I’m nervous. Really, more than anything, I can’t wait to get this show on the road. Let’s just skip past the rest of the pre-race stuff, and start the dang race! I don’t need to mess with traffic, parking, the crowds, or freezing my you know what off waiting for the start. Let’s race!

I’ll leave you with a couple of things: my goals. (Yes, I have them.) This being my first half marathon, the ultimate goal is to finish the race in one piece, and maybe even enjoy the experience. That’s really it, just finish. Okay, I do have a time goal that I’ll share with you. When I first signed up for a half marathon, back in the spring of 2008 (for the San Antonio Rock’n’Roll Half Marathon), I put down an estimated finishing time of 2 hours and 20 minutes. Two years later, after a knee injury that kept me from running the SA R’n’Roll Half, and one year after knee surgery, I am shooting for sub 2 hours. I feel good about hitting this goal. In fact, my training indicates that I could do better, but I’m not sold. Time will tell, huh?

I’ll be back later in the day with an update. Follow me on Twitter for earlier results. (No, I won’t be tweeting and running.)