Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Nut Job

Mark your calendars….May 3 and May 4th.   Why are we marking our calendars?   Well, I have been advised of a half marathon that takes place that weekend in a nearby town. The Frederick Half Marathon (Frederick Maryland)  Special thanks to Deb  over at DebsDailyLife for alerting me of this event and offering to virtually train for it with me!   I’ve been toying with the half marathon thing. So this is the perfect option for me.   It’s not so close that I’ll be struggling to get ready.  It’s not too far that I will lose momentum and or forget about the whole thing.  (It’s about 6 months away). 
The actual half marathon is on Sunday the 4th.  On Saturday evening they are having a twilight 5k.  If you do both you get an extra medal…..the nut job medal.   Ok, I have to say that I was REALLY tempted to do it.  How funny is that????  “Nut Job”?????   But then I started to think about the fact that this will be my first half marathon (I still can’t believe that I’m seriously contemplating this…it seems surreal).   As much as I think it would be a HOOT to have a nut job medal, I think I’m only going to do the half marathon.  I think that will be a challenge enough for me at this time.  (Thoughts?????  Should I pass or should I attempt???)

The thing that concerns me is the fact that they have a time limit and sweep the course….a 14 minute pace is where they sweep.  Yikes…I’m running about a 13 minute pace right now.  And that’s only between 3-5 miles (Ok ok ok, I’ve only run 5 miles ONCE…..but I did run 5 miles once….)  Right before my foot issues started I was running a 12 minute pace.    So unless I pick up some speed in the next 6 months, I will be in serious danger of being swept.
So my thoughts are this.  Spend the next three months working on speed.  This will involve running regularly and just trying to knock my speed by the normal things…. hills and intervals.  (we back to those dreaded hills that keep popping up in my exercise....like here when I faced down my nemesis)   That will take me to the beginning of February when I will officially start training for the half marathon. (Building up endurance will be the name of the game).    After the half marathon, I can switch my full attention over to the bike and I WILL complete my century ride next year…fall maybe????
Am I nuts? 
So this morning I was supposed to run…and woke up feeling absolutely miserable.  Dang sinus drainage is killing me.  Miserable I tell you!   So what did I do?   I stayed in bed.  And I also did not pack my gym bag for a post work run or workout.   However, I’m so excited to have an evening at home by myself (Todd works tonight) to get some things done.  I’ve got a website that is in dire need of updating.  I’ve got blogs that I am so far behind in reading.  I’ve got a story that I promised a friend for a podcast….I promised it eons ago, and while I have the story plot in my head, it hasn’t been written.  OOPS.     So tonight is a ‘reset’ trying to get myself back on track and not so far behind on these things.   Maybe that’s a good thing also.   Balance!!!!!
Balance is good, but I have goals and plans….which means I have to RUN!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Go for it!

timothy said...

you can do it, as for the nutjob medal that's entirely up to you, the question is in training would you train 3 miles the day before? having never trained as a runner I don't know. but VERY excited about the half!! WOO HOO!

Darcy Winters said...

I tend to ere on the side of caution, so I would do the half marathon this go around and then if it goes as you thought it would - add the 5K into the mix the following year. I'm saying this because of all the problems you have had with your foot. Mess yourself up on the 5K and then you won't make it through the half.

Debsdailylife said...

:) Im not going to push you into it... BUT would love to do this with you!! BUT, I also want to make sure your foot is ok!! Im NOT doing the nut job, altho I think it would be neat to have an extra medal!!

Fran said...

How exciting you want to do a half!
I admire you for being this brave.

Biggest mistake I made with running was not taking the time to improve a distance that I could run. You only have 6 months to train from a 5K to a half and you just healed from a foot injury. I don't want to temper your enthousiasm but I would consider to first run a 10K and then move on to the half. There are plenty of more half's to do in the future. But that's just my thought about it.

If you are going to do that half: good luck and I definitely support you the next couple of months!

Shelley said...

I think you'd do just fine with the time limit on that half; one thing I'd double check is how many people are running it...if it's a smaller race, the slower-paced people tend to be fewer and therefore stand out a little more, but if there's a lot of registrants, then you'd fit in with many others at your pace.

As for the 5K the night before, I'd say no...you don't need to start that half on legs that are anything but rested and fresh.