Half, my goal

I just registered to run in the Brooklyn Half-Marathon (13.1 miles) on April 26th. The race begins in Coney Island (where you run on the actual Boardwalk) and finishes in nearby Prospect Park. I sort of did that run while training for the marathon in 2006 -- I had set out to run an 18-miler to and from Coney Island on a day when it was around 80 degrees outside, and I had been suffering from a vicious sinus infection. I was lightheaded at the start of the run, but felt well enough until I hit the 10-mile mark upon leaving Coney Island; I then struggled for five more miles before throwing in the towel because I was so gassed and lightheaded that I was seriously concerned that I might fall on my face. Was not a pleasant experience. Can't wait to re-visit most of that route.

It's funny, 13.1 miles is, by most standards, a fairly long distance to run. But having done the full 26.2 a couple of times, training for the Half-Marathon seems like a cakewalk. Hell, it's eight weeks away and I've barely been doing any training. Ha ha? Yesterday while in the shower I started doing the math to see if I could reasonably train over the next seven weeks to get my distance long enough to survive a 13.1 mile run. Beyond smaller runs (at least two each week), I'd need to do long runs of six this weekend, eight the next, then ten, then twelve, then even thirteen or fourteen. Oh my gosh, I could be in shape to run the race in some form in four weeks. It would be poor form, but I could do it. With another three weeks of training, I might actually not feel like total crap at the end of the race.

So I ran six miles this morning in the frigid, windy cold. Temperature was in the mid-20s but the windchill made it feel worse. The wind was really bad at times up in Prospect Park and I vowed to break off my friendship with Mark and Elizabeth, as it was those fools that wrangled me into running this race. Because, you know, I have no free will.