Do another half-marathon?
Why not?!
Actually, I could give you about 1,000 reasons why not.
But the monies have been spent, and truth-be-told… I am a glutton for punishment.
I am also a glutton for other things, particularly food things… so putting a good, healthy goal on the calendar is probably a good idea.
But it’s been awhile. I honestly can’t remember the last event I participated in. I call these things “events” because I refuse to look at them as races.
I am not racing.
My goal is to finish, not win. Just cross the finish line, grab my medal, t-shirt, a bottle of water and a reason to eat TWO cheeseburgers for dinner.
You know, for fun.
Honestly, after training for a full marathon, training for a half seemed like a cake walk.
I find it odd I am totally not even kidding right now.
My advice to a beginning event-joiner is … TRAIN FOR A FULL MARATHON FIRST. When your weekly long runs are 17, 18, 19, then 20 miles… suddenly a 10 mile *long* run feels like an errand.
Dinstance running is all about mind games.
No wonder I am so drawn to them…
However…  there’s a reason I do not write about running and training and such. It’s been a long time since I’ve run any distance over 3 miles… and I almost feel like I’m starting back at square mile one.
To be completely honest, I don’t even want to run ONE mile right now.
I exercise fairly consistently, but training for something is another level of commitment.
3 things concern me about this decision:
1) My knees. They crackle more than Rice Krispies in milk when I go up stairs. I’ve been Googling knee taping techniques since I’ve forgotten how I’m supposed to do it. Ya know… it’s hard enough to make time to exercise, but at my age now I have to factor in time for stretching AND knee taping. ::WOMP WOMP::
2) The cold. I’m cold all the time. ALL OF THE TIMES. I don’t want to run 5 miles on a DREADmill – where it’s warm. That means I have to get outside. And it’s cold outside. Yes… I warm up, but the thought of being outside in the cold is a major wall for me. I used to go running with friends 2 days a week, 5 a.m., 4 miles… rain or more rain. Life shifted and I stopped, but they are still doing it… ready for me to come back anytime. Working back up to 4 miles is not actually the problem… it’s the cold.
3) And time. Training takes time. Time is not something that grows on trees, if you know what I mean…
What do you think? Do you “run”… even if it is from zombies, or towards chocolate… do you?