Its official. (almost)

So….Lately all I have been thinking about is running a marathon. A full blown marathon.

I have had dreams about it (and weirdly enough, in one dream I ended up not racing because of a family emergency, and in the other I got lost and missed the finish line). However, I am not letting those dreams stop me. It’s official. I am running my first marathon on October 14th, 2012. I guess it is not technically official bc I have not registered yet, but I will.

I am pretty excited about the coming year and my running adventures. My official calendar is done, and it includes a 5k, three half marathons, a full and a 10k.

My first half marathon of the year is the Lansing Half Marathon on 4/22. This is the first year of the race, and Lansing is a city I am familiar with and love, so I am excited for this race. I will be following Hal Higdon’s First Time Half Marathon plan (even though I have already ran 2 half marathons). At this point I still feel I am running races to finish, and not towards a time goal, and that is more the idea behind his beginner training plan.

After that race, I will have about 6 weeks with no official schedule, and then I will start training for my first full marathon, the Wildlife Marathon. This race is in Concord, MI, which is very close by for me. It is inexpensive and a small race. I am keeping it simple for my first marathon. I am excited that I will be able to do a lot of my training on the actual course itself (a good chunk of the race is on The Falling Waters Trail). I will be following Hal’s First Time Marathon Training plan. The other two half marathons I will do as training runs.

The other two half’s are the Portland Half Marathon on 7/29/2012 (about an hour from home, and only $40!) and the Chicago Half Marathon with my sister on 9/9/2012 (still need the time off approved for this one though…). The 5k is the Shamrocks and Shenanigans 5k in Ann Arbor in March, and I am sure I will do the Turkey Trot again on Thanksgiving morning for the 10k.

There have been a few things that have led me to the decision to just bite the bullet and do it. The main inspiration has been Ben Davis, from Ben Does Life. I read his whole story from start to finish and I think it is impossible not to be inspired by it. His journey has helped me see that I truly can do anything I set my mind to. I just have to take the plunge, and then make it a priority. And I am ready to do that. I am so excited. And so ready to start training. It’s amazing how just having it mapped out gets me ready to run!