A Double Header Race Weekend

This weekend will be (I think) my first dual race weekend.  On Saturday, I am running the ZOOMA Texas Half Marathon and Sunday, I am running the Graduate Student Assembly (UT Austin) 5K.  I don't run a lot of races, so it is definitely unusual for me to have two races back to back!

I signed up for the ZOOMA half because the weather in Central TX starts getting unpleasantly warm in April, making long races particularly unpleasant.  This half marathon is on March 31st, and I felt probably the last opportunity until November for me to comfortably race something of that length here in TX.  That being said, Saturday morning is looking like it could be pretty muggy and humid, and the race doesn't start until 7:30am, meaning that it will likely be quite warm when I am finishing.  Hopefully the unpleasant weather won't be too detrimental to my time.

The GSA 5K is a very small race, held to raise money for graduate student travel stipends.  It was held for the first time in spring of 2010.  I ran it that year and finished 2nd woman.  This is the second year the race is being organized.  Although I am not a huge fan of 5Ks, this race is held on UT's campus, which is very close and convenient for me.  Also, I have received graduate student travel grants to subsidize the costs of attending conferences, so this race directly benefits people like me and I am willing to support it.  I decided to run it a gain this year even though I will have run the half marathon the day before.  I realize this means I won't be able to run a fast 5K, but it will prevent me from sleeping in Sunday morning and skipping a workout.  Running the day after a hard race always seems to speed up my recovery.  The real selling point though?  I looked at the races FAQs and saw this:

Can I bring my dog? 

Yep.  We just ask that furry friends be on a leash.   

Top three finishers got their picture taken on the
Longhorns football field as a prize

Excellent!  I asked Boyfriend if he wanted to run  it as well (he also ran the inaugural GSA 5K two years ago) and he signed up as well.  We have decided to take both Bailey and Ike with us to the race.  I think we will have the boys vs. girls, so I will run with Bailey and he with Ike.  Ike is a super sled dog and runs very fast and is competitive during races, so I think he will help Boyfriend to run a strong race.  Bailey, on the other hand, has never done a race and can be very unpredictable when running.  Sometimes she really goes for it, other times she comes to an abrupt halt and won't move forward.  Because I will have just ran a race, I figured it made more sense for me to run with Bailey in her first race.  I have no idea how it will go, but bringing the pups along should make it fun.

So here's to a running filled weekend!  I will try to take some pictures and next week will have not one but two race reports.
GSA 5K Race Report Here!
ZOOMA Half Marathon Report Here!