Decisions, decisions

My dashboard display read 50 degrees this morning as I drove to the train station. The weather reports are predicting temperatures in the low 70's around noon today, great conditions for a lunchtime run. My Cow Harbor training cycle is near its end and I think I'm in good shape for next Saturday's race. It's too early to tell what the weekend weather will bring but the reports right now seem promising. I won't count on that. I remember being promised a "beautiful Sunday" the day of the Dirty Sock Run in August. It didn't turn out too beautiful with the heat and high humidity and rain coming down near the end. No matter, the Dirty Sock was still a great event.

With the highly changeable conditions of early fall weather it's hard to know what gear will work best on race day. I'll go with one of my short sleeved wicking shirts and racing shorts but I'm not sure which shirt and shorts to bring. Historically my race day clothes have been chosen by Team Emerging Runner, usually for their color and design more than for their performance attributes. I'm biased toward lighter weight stuff for Saturday and I have some ideas about what may work best.

I'm still on the fence about which running shoes I'll wear. The Brooks GTS 10's always deliver but they aren't as light as some of my other pairs. I've raced in the Saucony Grid Tangent 4's once (NHP 8K) and had a fine experience with them. I'm wearing them on today's Central Park run to help me decide if I should call on them again. I'm also considering the Kinvaras that I wore on Sunday when I did interval training. The Kinvaras are great, lightweight and comfortable, but they don't have any stability correction. I need to decide if that's important for a run barely over 6 miles. The last time I ran with them was on the third long run over a three day weekend. I developed some heel soreness in the last two miles so I'm slightly sensitive to the lessor cushioning they provide.

Finally, there's all the other stuff: My hat (probably my Jackrabbit model), my gel (the Orange Mandarin GU) and water bottle -- Amphipod, an 8 oz Poland Spring bottle or just rely on the water station? I won't decide  any of this now. That's what Friday night is for.