Dallas 13.1

Recently I did something I didn’t know that I would ever do. I signed up for a half marathon!!

Now before you think I’m insane because I am just coming back from an injury, you should know it isn’t until October 23rd, 2011 I’m running the Dallas 13.1.

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It isn’t that I said I would never run a half marathon. I just didn’t know if  I would. It wasn’t a goal I had made, or a goal I had denied – it was just something I wasn’t really sure if I would ever do. Since I started running I could had trouble wrapping my head around a 10K distance, so 13.1 was never really on my mind.

Truth be told, I didn’t really think a half marathon was anywhere in my close future. I had already written my 10K post prior to registering for the race and I clearly stated I wasn’t even thinking about running another 10K until the spring.

But one day a few weeks ago I was in class and on my phone looking at facebook (such a great student here, huh?). I’m friends with one of the Spark coaches that lives here in Dallas and she is an avid runner. She posted a status update saying she had signed up for the Dallas 13.1 half marathon for only $30 as part of an inaugural special they were running. Apparently the first 100 people to sign up for the race only had to pay $30.

What!?

Racing is no cheap habit. I’m very lucky that most 5K and 10K races here in DFW run about $20. We run about one race a month, sometimes two. This adds up. Though my 10K actually only cost $12! So when my cousin (my running buddy) and I talk about doing longer distances, the race fee is always something that pops up into conversation. Half marathons are not cheap, even here in the land of cheap races. I’ll admit, the $30 price tag was my main motivation here.

And yes, I have a finance degree and realize the time value of money (as these were the first words out of my boyfriend’s mouth) – but I never would have signed up for a half marathon without plenty of time to prepare even if it was only $30. I’m a little obsessed with always being prepared (or at least trying).

Anyway, I was immediately intrigued and sent a text to my cousin saying “what up, should we do this?”

Her response? “YES!”

Within 10 minutes I had already registered both of us, via my android phone, in the middle of bio chemistry (now do you see why I wasn’t paying attention?) for our first half marathon.

Of course then I had to tell people. First on my list were my boyfriend (obvi) and my BFF Stina. Stina is a fellow runner, just ran her first half marathon (you can see her 13.1 training tips here) and I had to share this news with her because we talk every single day! As we were talking I mentioned that she should sign up because it’s such a great deal. I never thought she would say yes since she lives in Chicago, but she replied that she was registering!

oh.my.god

I am literally so excited. But also so scared. But then excited again.

The truth is, I have 11 months to build my distance so I’m not too worried. Knowing that I have this race in my future is already motivating me to get out there and do my training runs. And apparently it has worked since I am hopefully done with this hip pain (fingers still crossed).

More than anything I’m super excited to have Stina and my cousin here to share this with me. As I’ve mentioned Stina is one of my best friends and we talk every single day. My cousin was one of the people I looked up to the most growing up because she is 13 years older than me. To have both of these women running with me is going to be amazing.

And now I can tell everyone who asks about my running that I’m training for my first half marathon! That literally sounds insane coming from my lips

As I said Monday for now I’m focusing on putting this hip pain behind me and running 5Ks until the start of the new year when I’m going to focus on the 10K distance and start building myself up from there. I’m not too thrilled about tackling new long distances during the Texas summer so focusing on safely building my distances as early in the year as I can will be a priority. Training plans to come as we get closer!

Make sure to check out Stina’s big announcement on the race as well here!

Are you guys training for any races right now or working on a new fitness goal? Please do share!