Half Crazy.

Well folks, it's official. Yesterday I jumped off of the diving board and registered for my first half-marathon. No more, I want to run a half marathon's or I'm going to try to run a half marathon's. This shit is happening. And it's happening in November. 

Dear Lord, what have I gotten myself into?

So, obviously I need to start training. And I have two training plans that I've found that seem reasonable yet ambitious.

Number 1:

This one's from Runner's World (it's an old article that my friend, who WON a marathon by the way, used to train for a full marathon). If I used this training schedule, I'll probably cut the long runs in half, because well I'm not trying to run 26.2 miles - I just need 13.1. The training table is at the bottom of the article but the article itself is super inspirational, like all things from Runner's World are (we'll talk more about that in a second).

Number 2:

This training schedule was recommended to me by Katie over at runsforcookies.com, which is one of my favorite running blogs - if you haven't checked her out, you need to! Anyway, this training schedule is specifically for half-marathons so it will definitely be worth looking at.

The good news: I am ahead of the game at this point. Number 1 covers 18 weeks and Number 2 covers 12 weeks. And at this point, my race is a little over 19 weeks away. Knowing me, I will probably take both training schedules into consideration and develop my own little training program. I really like "winging it" most of the time.

Speaking of Runner's World. What an awesome magazine. Whenever I get discouraged about running or think I'm not capable of doing these long races, I read some articles from their website or magazine and it reminds me that running is so much more than a physical hobby. I know that I've always said that a half marathon is probably my end goal because, let's be honest, running 26.2 miles not only sounds impossible to me - it sounds miserable! But I have to admit, reading their issue last month on the Boston Marathon not only made me verklempt (Coffee Talk anyone?), but it also made me want to join the crazy club and run a marathon. But let's get past this half and see how I feel.

Things I'm excited about for this half marathon:

• You guys know how excited I get about race day t-shirts. This one is a technical LONG SLEEVED one. They hooked me right there.
• It's a generally flat run around my hometown - I've run most of the places that the route covers so I'm already mentally aware of the areas and their distances.
• I'll get a cool half marathon medal. Swag, swag, swag. Yes, yes, yes.
• I'll finally be able to mark "half marathon" off of my bucket list.
• Carb loading. I get to do this right? It sounds amazing.
• It's in November - the weather will be PERFECT!
• There is FREE BEER afterwards. BOOM! Done.

Things I'm nervous about for this half marathon:

• Having the endurance and agility to be able to run the whole thing.
• Having a long enough playlist to listen to. (RUNNING PLAYLIST RECOMMENDATIONS, ANYONE?)
• Being able to stay consistent with training despite my constant travel with work.
• Not psyching myself out as the race gets closer (I always do this).

So here goes nothing - I've already spent $70 on registration so there's NO turning back now! I'm excited to kick this things ass and prove to myself that I can do this.

Oh yeah - and see Sam run is doing it with me, too! 
(Although I'm not positive that she's aware just yet...)

Any advice for a first time half marathoner? Come on people, I need guidance!

Happy Tuesday!