The Year of the Half Marathon

Holy cow!  How is it possible that it's been this long since I last posted anything?!?  I imagine it has something to do with the fact that this blog is supposed to be about running... and running hasn't really been a big part of my life lately.  I see that I've managed to post about other random crap, which is fine, I suppose... but it's time to get back to what this blog is all about...

So, I've decided to make this my Year of the Half Marathon.  Even though it has been my desire for the last 2 years to run a half marathon, I have yet to really take this goal seriously.  So, rather than start running and hope to find a race that fits into my plans for the year, I've decided to register for a race I want to run, then force myself to make it happen.  Training for a specific race tends to keep me motivated and on the right track, so I figure it should be easier to stick to my goal... particularly when you spend more than $120 on race registration.  I don't know about you, but I'm not a big fan of throwing away money :)

I've spent much of this week doing research on area races, polling friends about their plans for 2014 and connecting with some new people in the running community.  Thus far, I'm finding it easy to jump back into the whole running thing and, with a few runs under my belt, I feel like I'm in the right mindset for training.

There's really only one problem at this point... having already run a marathon, I believe I have an overconfident feeling about running a mere 13.1 miles.  Don't get me wrong, my ability to complete 26.2 absolutely proves to me that I can finish a half marathon... I'm not at all concerned about the distance.  My bigger issue is that I have this crazy idea that I can run a whole bunch of them this year... as if it will be no big deal and my body can handle that kind of beating.  For some of these races I have myself convinced that they will be for training purposes only... that I won't race and I'll take the opportunity to work on pacing and getting used to the distance.  But, there's not a chance in hell that this is how it will end up playing out.  I'm far too competitive for that.  If I line up at a starting line and a gun goes off, you better believe I'll be trying to get to that finish line as fast as humanly possible and that, given the opportunity, I will pass every last person I possibly can.  This isn't training... this is racing.  And I wonder if it's smart to put my body through that kind of run while 'training' for a specific race.  I should probably do a little more research on this topic before getting carried away.

Attempting to play this one smart, I've started by registering for just one race... the Pittsburgh Half Marathon on May 4th.  A runner friend of mine suggested it and, even though the hills scare the crap out of me, I figure it'll be a fun course and an excuse to take a little weekend trip.

The second race I really want to do is the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in Cleveland on October 11th.  I heard good things about this race last year and have wanted to do it ever since.  I'm not yet registered, but this is definitely on my to-do list this year.

Also on my radar are the Irish Jig & Jog 5k on March 22nd, the Towpath Half Marathon on April 6th, the Cleveland 10 Miler on April 26th, the Lake Health Half Marathon on June 15th, the North Olmsted Kiwanis 5k at the beginning of August, the Leave No Trace Half Marathon on August 30th, and the River Run Half Marathon, which I believe is September 7th.

Oh, and since I'll be coaching Girls on the Run again this spring (more on that later), I'll also be running the GOTR 5k in Akron on May 18th.

So, yeah... I can't see being able to do every race that interests me this year... I recognize this is overkill, but part of me just wants to register for every one of them :)

My mindset going into this year is to see what I'm capable of in my first half marathon, then see how much I can improve upon my time later in the year.  For marathon training, I stuck with the Hal Higdon novice training program and there's no question it prepared me for the distance and what I should expect on race day.  I know a lot of people that use all kinds of different training programs, but I'm thinking I'll stick with what works for me and use his novice program to train for the Pittsburgh Half.  My plan would be to start another 12 week training cycle for the Rock 'n' Roll Half in October, but this time I'm thinking I'll try the Hal Higdon intermediate training schedule as this training is specifically geared toward speed, which is something I haven't worked on since high school.  While the Rock 'n' Roll Half should be faster for many reasons, including 5 additional months of running under my belt and what is sure to be a flatter course, it would be fun to see how much I might improve using a more speed-focused training schedule.

Two half marathons in one year should be enough, right?  So why am I suddenly so determined to run every race I can?  And would running this many races be a bad idea?  Feel free to share your thoughts on the matter.  For now, I'll start with Pittsburgh and plan to play the rest by ear :)

Here's to 2014: The Year of the Half Marathon!  Happy Running!