Panic

Remember how I said all I wanted to do was finish this race alive and the icing on the cake would be to finish it in four hours?  Yeah.  So do I.


After a little bit of reading and investigating I found that there is a time limit on the whole shebang.


3.5 hours.


Doable?


I sure hope so.


Am I freaking out?


You bet I am!


Should I actually start training myself instead of reading other people's blogs about training?


Probably.


Oye.

Goals

This past weekend, the Mister was asking me what my goal for this whole half marathon is.  


I looked at him like he was crazy!!


My goal?


My ONLY goal?


To cross that finish line. 


That's it.  


I just want to finish.


But then, I got to thinking, what if I raise the bar a little bit?


Sure, I want to cross that finish line . . . crossing the finish line alive would be really nice.


But what if I raise that bar just a little bit?


So I did some thinking.


The results?


I now have two goals!


Goal #1 - To cross that finish line!!!


Goal #2 - To cross that finish line in about 4 hours!!


Lofty?  Of course, but I think I can do it . . . even if my husband is rolling his yes as he reads this! :-)

Training?

Ok.  So, I was pretty honest in my last post about myself, but let me recap.  


I am not fit. 


I don't like exercise.


I do have a membership to a local gym . . . point for me!


So here is the deal.


I don't know what I am doing.  No clue. 


Yesterday was what I consider Training Day 1.


I went to the gym.


I got on that treadmill, set it to 3.5 and walked away.


For an hour.


Obviously I didn't make it that far, only 3.5 miles BUT I did figure out a few things.


1)  Bringing my husband along with me might be good motivation.  At one point, I looked over and saw my husband going 3.7 mph on the neighboring treadmill.  Me?  I was going 3.3 at this point.  I COULD NOT let him be going faster than me.  So not ok, so I stepped it up.  Not bad motivation, eh?


2)  Sports bras are imperative.  Super important.  You are probably saying, "well, duh!!"  I know.  These ladies are large, there's no hiding that.  But you see, I was in the mood to go to the gym, so I needed to take advantage of that and GO.  I couldn't find my sports bra, and lets just say, I paid for not taking a few extra minutes to search for it.  Ouch!


3)  I want to be a runner.  I do.  I want to be one of those people who head outside after work and take a nice, refreezing jog, clearing their head.  So, I kinda want to run at least part of this half marathon.  I really do.  But when I "run" I go all out, fast.  And then I die.  Not productive.  Yesterday (due in large part to the lacking support . . .) I tried going at a slower pace.  4.2 mph to be exact.  And guess what?  I LOVED it!!!  I only ran for about four minutes or so, but I could have kept going!  It was a very cool feeling.


4)  I am excited to go BACK to the gym!!  Who am I?  Obviously I am knee deep in the honeymoon phase of this!


5)  I don't know what I am doing.  No clue.  I need to do some research or find some smart running friends or something! 


Do you want to be my new running friend?

What?

Lets just get this out of the way . . . I am not a runner.

No one would describe me as "fit."

Or even athletic.

One might describe me as more "typically American."  Get the picture?  If it's not clear yet, keep reading and soon it will become crystal.

My 30th birthday is coming up in a few months.  The big 30.

The other night, walking home from a spectacular Sounders game, my wonderful fit, athletic sisters asked what I wanted to do to celebrate.  Apparently they think this is a big deal.  Ha . . . let's wait until it's their 30th birthday and we will see just how big of a deal it is.


Honestly?  I wanted to sit on the couch, stuff my face with popcorn drenched in butter and washed down with a pint of Ben & Jerry's.  Apparently that was not acceptable.  


An hour later, they had me convinced that a half marathon would be a fun, good idea.  


Thirty minutes after that, we discovered the Disney Princess Half Marathon and I was sold.   I mean come on, I get a tierra shaped medal at the end (here's hoping I survive to get the silly thing!) and you get Princess followed by your name on your bib.  


What's not to love about this idea?  


Oh . . . the training.  Did I mention that I am not fit, nor athletic and am a typical American?  


Yeah.  


This should be fun.


So here is to my adventure.  


The ups and downs.  


The highs and the lows.  


The successes and the stumbles.  


All I want to do is finish and be able to be proud of my accomplishment . . . whatever that might be.


I hope you will come along for the ride!