Monumental goal

I’m training for a half-marathon.

I absolutely love saying that.

I’m training for a half-marathon.

I mentioned before that I had decided to train for a 5K in August — and that’s coming up tomorrow! — but a little over a month ago, a crazy thought started creeping into my head: “I wonder if I could do a half-marathon.” I tried pushing it out of my head, but it kept coming back. It lingered and wouldn’t go away, so I started looking into it more to see if I could find the perfect race.

It couldn’t be a spring race because I’m not a winter runner and don’t have an indoor place to run (and don’t want to pay for one), so winter training is out. It needed to be a race that supported slower runners, or even better if it supported walkers. It needed to be a race that followed a relatively flat course, as I don’t think I could handle 13.1 miles of hills. I train on hills, but a half-marathon distance on hills would surely undo me. And it also needed to be a race that I could travel to relatively easily and inexpensively. I figured if I found something that met all of those criteria, then it was worth a shot.

So I’m signed up to run in the Monumental Half-Marathon in Indianapolis on November 1. The timing is right, as I had 16 weeks until the race as of when I signed up. The race supports slow runners and walkers and requires a 15-minute mile or faster for the first 6 miles, but after that (after the race leaves downtown, where the streets can’t stay closed indefinitely), you can go however slow you want. There is course support available for 6 1/2 hours, and I know I can complete the distance in that amount of time even if I walked the whole thing (I’m thinking 3 1/2 hours or less is realistic at this point, but I’ll set a time goal closer to the race). So this is a very beginner-friendly race. The course is VERY flat. The city is 3 hours from where I live, and we can make a weekend of it with some other activities while we’re there.

It looks like this is going to happen. Holy crap.

A month ago, I took my recreational running into actual training. I found a good training schedule to guide me. I started chatting with other friends who have run half or full marathons to get their guidance. I bought a better pair of running shoes designed for my feet. I found a 10K race (in my parents’ hometown, actually) in October that I’d like to target before the big race. I’m focusing on speed during my shorter weekday runs and distance on my longer Sunday runs. I finally got a sports watch so I can officially time myself while I’m out.

Running a half-marathon is not something I ever thought I would do in my life. I’m not a runner by nature. Even now, I still have a love/hate relationship with it. But after 9 months of pregnancy and then 14 months of breastfeeding, I was ready to have my body back for myself. Challenging myself to accomplish this goal is the ultimate way for me to prove to myself that I’m the one back in control. It feels like the right time in my life to do this, while Baby B’s schedule allows me to train but before a second baby comes along and it’s hard to find that time for myself again.

I have a feeling I’m going to be emotional when I cross the finish line in the 5K race tomorrow evening. Even though I set my sights a little higher, this race was my initial goal, and it’s a big deal for me. When I looked over the course map the other day, I got a little choked up thinking about crossing the finish line and celebrating with The Husband, Baby B, and a few very good friends who are coming down to cheer me on. They’ve helped support me during this crazy adventure, and I cannot thank them enough for that.