First of all, I will say something classy, like:

Run away? More like ‘Run Towards.’ Run towards a goal. Run towards an accomplishment. Run towards home plate. In a mere two days, I will be running my first 5K (or first road race of any kind) at the Ray Tanner Home Run 5K.

As of this week, I have started feeling very excited and nervous about this event. Trust me, there is very little pressure on me to finish at a certain time. I feel like the reason I’m nervous is that after all this time (nearly three months) I’ve spent training, I just want to perform well and up to the level of my ability. I also set a new personal record (29:50) yesterday while I ran the course through the final time before the race.

My motivation heightened again yesterday when I went to pick up my race packet and talk to the race director in person. He was really nice and we talked for quite a few minutes when he found out thi was my first race. He went over the course again with me (like I hadn’t done that on my own enough) and even gave me some useful tips and tricks for first-timers. My packet had additional information, my race number, and my race t-shirt in it. It even included a plastic bag to carry everything in! What a deal!

So, RAY TANNER, whatcha gonna do…when #606, Team Dave, and all those Team Dave-a-maniacs out there…run wild…on YOU, brother?!?!

Today, the Gamecocks of South Carolina welcome the South Carolina State Bulldogs. To speak frankly, this should be a relatively easy win for USC. I understand that SC State is very good in their division, but USC is a little bigger school than SC State. The Gamecocks play in the SEC, not the MEAC. However, this is still a good game for several reasons. Despite an SEC vs MEAC matchup, the game is still going to be shown on national television. This will give a chance to highlight players from both teams for national exposure. Secondly, the kind of money that USC would pay a small team to come in and play them will stay with an in-state team, as opposed to going to other out-of-state schools. I’m excited to see Carolina play today and keep getting their offense together. It should also be interesting to see some of our freshmen show what they’ve got, and even see Reid throw some balls. GO COCKS!

Tonight at Williams Brice Stadium, the #4 Ole Miss Rebels play the South Carolina Gamecocks. Many of the fans around Columbia are not at all intimidated by the Rebels coming in to town, and there are a couple reasons for that. First of all, USC beat Ole Miss last time they played. Many people think it will be a close game this time around as well, no matter the ranking. Also, many fans think Ole Miss are ranked too high for their team. They have yet to play anyone of note this season, but since they won a bowl game and returned their starting QB, they automatically get a good spot in the Top 25. Carolina has shown steady improvement over their first three games and hopefully will be performing well in all aspects of the game tonight.

Fortunately, I will be watching this game from Row 13 in Williams Brice Stadium. If you can’t make it, however, flip on ESPN around 7:45 and watch this great SEC matchup. GO COCKS!