Trail dirt and only one day to go!

My favorite biking partner and I took to the trail on Wednesday for a really enjoyable - if a little muddy - ride. We took it fairly easy (except for one time when we started getting competitive and raced for a stretch), and went about 5 miles. It was sprinkling a bit, which was such an improvement over the heavy rains we've been having almost every day lately, so the trail was wet, but we had a great time. At one point, when I was standing next to the bike, I rolled one of the tires against my calf. The tread gave me some muddy marks that looked like I had grilled myself on a barbecue. I had to laugh yesterday, because when I put a pair of shorts on to go for a jog, the marks were still there - they hadn't come off in the shower. Trail dirt, as I've discovered, is very persistent in its dirtiness.

Yesterday I ran for the last time before tomorrow's race. It was just a half-mile warm-up on the treadmill, a lot of stretching, and then a mile on the road, where I took walk breaks up and down the hill.

I've been obsessing a bit about the 5K tomorrow, and I hope I haven't psyched myself up too much about PRing. I have to prepare myself for possibly getting cramps and not being able to do as well, but I also want to be optimistic. I think that the longer runs I've been going on for the past month have helped me, as have some of the other workouts, which I completed more consistently than in past training periods. Whatever happens, I'll obviously do my best, have fun, and my dedicated support staff (aka favorite biking partner) will be there to cheer me on. I have a friend who is also running her first half marathon tomorrow, so good luck to her!