What was I thinking? 13.1 miles. Running… not driving. Seriously, what was I thinking. Some may remember in a land far far away I was a sprinter, well a hurdler to be exact. I’m a high school track record holder… in a sprinting event, NOT distance! But this just proves that I’ll do about anything to spend more time in wine country (we missed a visit in 2015).
The stars just aligned, I saw an ad for the Healdsburg half marathon in late October. My aunt and uncle live there – love to visit them. I was pretty sure my husband and my virtual fitness partner/cousin in Portland would both go with me. It’s the weekend before Halloween and going to the Castello di Amorosa Halloween party is on my bucket list.
I have friends near San Francisco that would definitely join us (and the good news is she’s a doctor and there is a very high probability I might need her). It just seems meant to be except for that pesky running 13.1 miles!!!!So, after the initial panic wore off, I did what I do, I read a book, Half Marathon Training (The Busy Girls Half Marathon Training Handbook – A Step by Step Guide to Running Your First Half Marathon). The good news is, I have time – not a lot but if I get going soon, enough. The bad news, besides the having to run part, is 1) I need real running shoes, 2) I need some new running duds (luckily hubby got me one of those cool stocking hats with the LED light on it for Christmas, it was for walking McKenna not running but we’ll re-purpose it), 3) I need some sort of heart rate monitor, GPS software and a bunch of other stuff that I can’t remember right now. The days of throwing on your Nike’s and heading out the door are long gone, running a half-marathon has gone way hi-tech.
So, my next step is to go to the running store and pray that I can make it long enough on the tread mill without embarrassing myself to have my ‘gait’ properly analyzed and be properly fleeced of the hundreds of dollars the right running shoes are going to cost me. And according to my training plan they won’t last very long so they suggest you buy two pairs at a time and alternate them – yeah, not happening.
So, that’s the plan, running, lots of running… with visions of adult grape juice in my head and the honor of getting to put that 13.1 magnet that I covet on the back of my truck (I know it’s an SUV but to me it’s still a truck) and of course getting to walk (hopefully) with a bit more swagger. If you want to join the party, let me know, I need all the motivation I can get on this one!
Check it out: And look more motivation – a day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute countdown. Panicking again! http://destinationraces.com/runhb/
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