Your first Half Marathon

  After getting a little more confident and doing some shorter (5k or even 10k) races, thinking about your first half marathon is a pretty natural step.  It is also a little scary (I knew I had officially lost it when I toyed with the idea of entering a race that took 13.1 miles...there is a sign on the interstate 13 miles from my town!!)  Driving that distance made me realize how far that really was, but with support (and the promise of carbs) we signed up for not one, but 2 half marathons in the coming months!  Can we call that a whole? Hahah, I kid (mostly).

I want this sticker when we finish-- it suits me perfectly!!

First we signed up for the Mississippi Blues Half Marathon in January.  It's in my husband's hometown, and its a world class event with great support, a great charity and not to mention the lure of an absolutely GORGEOUS finisher medal!

That puppy is also about 6 inches long-- they are huge and sparkly! (No, I'm not a magpie at all...)

     Then, my friend Iantha convinced us to sign up for a local half in my hometown-- the LEO half marathon, benefiting the Lion's Club and the Alzheimer's Association.  It is in mid November (so, technically this is our first, even though we chose it second!)  We waited a while before we signed up for this one, just because I wasn't sure we could do two within 3 months of one another!  We opted to, and are going to take this one less "seriously", and use it as a long training run, or a "test drive".  We'll get a chance to get the feel for it, and not over work ourselves or hurt ourselves (to finish is the goal anyway!

This is the medal design and logo for the LEO race. It's pretty cool actually, especially a small town race that's only been around 2 years!

     So, what are the "guidelines" for choosing a half marathon to run in?  Well, it's pretty straightforward, but here are the best tips I've heard/ seen.

*Determine your goal-- to simply finish or choose a time. (both races we're signed up for have an 8 hour window, so finishing no matter how we have to is no problem, some races have pace requirements).

*Choose one with at least 12 weeks to prepare-- so you can build your legs up to the task!

* Do you want to be in a huge race, or a small one?  We chose one of each, but I think having the smaller, local race first is a good plan so you don't feel as lost or intimidated.

* Choose one that will keep your motivation up!  Whether it's the theme, the charity they support, or just a pretty medal (yes, some people consider that too.. *coughme*) have something that you can use to keep you focused.

*How much time can you devote?  To training, and to travelling if the race isn't local.  All factors to consider!

* Make sure you have some support-- a friend or team to run with, or at very least someone to cheer you into the finish!  

This made me laugh-- and it makes sense!

     Whatever you do for your first race, be sure that you enjoy it and do what you can to soak up as much from the experience as possible!  You should be celebrating and loving it!

**Personal Update**

   Well, I have apparently "ruined" the Hare, so he says.  He was on his way home from work yesterday, and he said to himself "oh...we have to run today. Oh well, it's only 3.5 miles anyway, no big deal."  Then laughed at how insane that sounded!  We celebrated our official 6 months of running together by accidentally running further than our goal for the day was!  Not too much further, but we still did well. I can't believe it's already been this long, and we are still just as hooked as we were!  I am always amazed, and sometimes nervous (I ask at least once a week "do you reeaalllyy think we'll be ready for this by November??), but the next run day that rolls around, we almost always lace up and go (and if we don't we make up for it!).