Thought I'd finally get some races on the schedule for this year. Right now, I have June 8th in St. Marie's, Idaho on my calendar, the St. Joe River Half Marathon. I thought it'd be fun to ask some coworkers if they wanted to try it, and got an overwhelming response! Not only are two coworkers in the ticket office running it (for the FIRST time!), two of our student workers are. Plus a coworker in the basketball office...and some Young Life College kids! It's great to have such a fun group, reminds me of when I prepared for my first race and had all the Knight Runners as support.
Most of these will be first time half marathoners. I think back to four years ago (FOUR YEARS???) when I began to prep for my first half. The daunting task of running, 'gasp' three miles. The distance of the running gets easier, the preparing involves more knowledge. Having ran 10 long distance races now, I feel less like a newbie, and more like someone who has a tiny bit of knowledge on how to train for a race, however there is still SO much more to learn. I want to pace myself better. I want to pay attention to my nutrition, and how best to fuel my body for 13.1 I want to fully training, not missing a day because of laziness, or using an excuse, but truly focus on training the best I can, so I have NO EXCUSE on race day. I don't want to finish, disappointed at my time, knowing I didn't do everything I could. I want that 2:10 time. It's what I've been aiming for since my first race. I've gotten my time down to 2:20, last year, and I know knocking 10 minutes off my time, at age 30, will be a challenge. Gladly accepted!
I can't wait till 12 weeks from now....to see my coworkers finish this race, to see that shiny race medal around their neck, to get that awesome post-race picture, to congratulate them on such an accomplishment. This will be a fun, challenging, hard, worth it 12 weeks for all of us.
