Wherein I Do Something Crazy

I think it's pretty safe to say I'm not a runner. For the most part, I don't enjoy it save a few rare runs where I feel awesome before, during, and after. It takes everything in me to lace up my shoes and hit the road. And I fail terribly at beating the mind game.

So what I'm going to say next it going to sound a little crazy.

I'm signing up to run a half-marathon in November.

Did you get that, Interwebs? I. AM. SIGNING. UP. TO. RUN. A. HALF. MARATHON. IN. NOVEMBER.

Hello, who is this girl? I can barely run one mile and I want to shoot for 13 in just 5 short months? I have to be crazy.

Crazy as I am, I'm going to do this. I saw a commercial on TV advertising a half-marathon in my city on November 21st and an idea started forming in my head of signing up. Never in my life have I thought I would want to run a half-marathon. I don't have the same love and passion for running as my mom does, or as many runners I've come across do. I do it because it's good exercise.

But I was drawn to this idea. I was drawn to being able to say I'm training for a half-marathon, run it with a bunch of women, and say I've run a half-marathon. The goal isn't to run for the entire 13.1 miles. The goal is to train successfully and do the best I can, even if it means frequent walking breaks.

There is a part of me that's excited and a part of me that's nervous. Running a half-marathon is no joke and I think I just want to prove to myself that I can do it. Who says I can't run a half-marathon? Nobody but myself. I'm my own worst enemy, giving myself limits and telling myself I can't do it. The less vocal but more confident side of me wants to banish that voice forever. If I can do this, I can do anything. I just have to prove it to myself first.

I'm using Hal Higdon's plans for training for your first 5K and training for your first half-marathon. The 5K plan is 8 weeks long and the half plan is 12 weeks long. My half-marathon is 20 weeks away. Perfect, no? So I'll be starting off with his 5K plan this week, with a few tweaks of adding my own exercise in on rest days.

I still think I'm absolutely crazy for doing this. But I also think I'm incredibly brave and I'm just going to hold on to that image of me crossing the finish line throughout the next 5 months to keep me motivated.

But I'm really going to need new running shoes now.