run, run, run

I have not been running as much as I want to, or should be. I've let myself get swallowed up by work and life and excuses and the miles have drifted away while the pounds pile on. I promised myself that it's time to get back on track so I knocked out an 8-miler on Saturday and felt pretty good about it. Which is a good thing.

I've set myself a new, impossible, crazy goal. I'm going to run four half-marathons in a month. I didn't start out planning this, believe me. The Salt Lake Half Marathon, which I've done three times, was in trouble. Lots of management and financial issues and people weren't sure it was going to happen. That one is April 21st. I have some friends who are doing it for the first time so I finally signed up. But just in case it didn't happen...

I signed up for one on April 7th, in Heber, which is near one of my Ragnar runs. It's called Striders and it's small. But then I started thinking, hmmm...Utah, mountains, April...snow. I do not want to do 13 miles in the snow. And it's only 45 bucks so....

I signed up for the Thanksgiving Point Half Marathon on April 28th. I heard it was a good one and the odds of snow are slim. Plus, one of my Ragnar friends decided to do it with me so I'm now committed. Or triple-committed. But at this point I'm still thinking I'm probably only going to do one of the three. And then...

My friend Carrie gets a Groupon for half-price off another half-marathon on Cinco de Mayo. It's in Provo which is normally a serious deterrent to me (they have like one Starbucks in Provo, no tequila and tend to frown on tank tops and swearing) but she really, really wants me to sign up. What can I say? It's HALF-PRICE! Like 30 bucks. And I've already signed up for three halves that I'm mildly trained for. So, I'm in.

And then I think, HEY! If I run all four (A) I'll be better trained than I've ever been for most of the half-marathons I've run, (B) I'll be burning some serious calories for swimsuit season, (C) it's good training for Ragnar, and (D) I'll be able to say I ran four half marathons in a month! That's not too shabby.

Let the running begin. I'm going 4 for 4!