The half marathon consumed a year of my life (almost two actually when you consider that I trained for a year for my first, then did 3 of them over the course of the following year). It had many years of mental energy and my general antipathy toward exercise tied up against proving to myself that I could do it. I have always hated running and I wish I could say that over the course of that time I hit a runner’s high, or at least learned to appreciate the peace of racing no one but myself…but I can’t. I now I hate it with a passion only achievable through familiarity. I picked it because I am really slow, and I have tried to be faster with not mixed results but more along the lines of epic failure. Therefore I rationalized that if I couldn’t be faster than anyone I was going to go longer than most people can. I’m glad I did. There were at least some really nice body mechanic benefits. But running is now like my mother in law: It is part of my life. I will suck it up and interact with it because I don’t really have the fortitude to write it off. But every time I am forced into interaction I will count the seconds until it’s over.

I envy you your enjoyment of it (or at least your peace with it). I might have hated you for it, but you used a great Robin quote so I can’t, though maybe JD will be back in the running as my favorite blogger.

Hahaha! I’m just glad anyone gets any of my obscure geeky references.

Congrats on finishing. A half marathon is nothing to sneeze at, it is a very tough distance. When I race now it is against myself, I just kind of tune out everyone else. I realized for me it was about the journey and learning something about myself in each race rather than the actual outcome. Of course this may be my fragile male ego rationalizing the fact that my wife is now so freaking fast at these longer distances she routinely beats me 😉

Hm, forgot my end quote. Doh.

‘This rock is made of metal, and the salt water has rusted it so it’s, you know, hole-y’….

You’re my new favorite blogger [sorry, JD]. I can’t tell you how often “holy rusted metal Batman!” comes into my head and I have to hold it in because no one gets it.

I trained for a half, but unlike you I am in horrible shape and it was torture to train up to every last bit. But my husband ran with me for support. But rather than train he jumped on the treadmill a couple weeks before the race, pounded out 8 miles without a problem and said “I think I’m good” and he was, in brand spanking new shoes he bought at the expo. I still hate him a little bit for that, but at least he ran with me rather than going for time. However he wasn’t a runner. He just plays lots of basketball and stays really active.

Mark has some great stuff on his blog. When I was experimenting with my diet (http://thehappyphilosopher.com/food/) I read quite a bit of his stuff. I know so many runners who over train and have constant low level (or sometimes serious) injuries.

Video games are not a great habit and they are probably best avoided, just too darn addictive!

You are very right, running a 1/2 marathon cold with no running experience is not a good idea. At the marathon distance you are almost guaranteed a stress fracture or some other bad outcome. Horrible things start happening to your body at about mile 20 and unless you have a solid base you are probably not going to love life for the next few weeks.

The Spartan Ultra Beast looks absolutely insane…

Good luck!

Another key, which I really wish you hadn’t put in a footnote is the fact that you have run quite a bit in the past. This may work for someone with experience, but for someone with none, a recipe for disaster. About 4, maybe even 5- years ago, my son and I trained religiously for a road 1/2 marathon. But couldn’t run the original one planned so just signed up for the next one I could find. Unbeknownst to me, it was a trail 1/2 marathon. It practically killed me. It was my first foray into long-distance running.

So I hope your experiment goes well. I think most people can tolerate a 1/2 with reasonable training. A full would be another matter. I do look forward to the results. I have been training for 8-mos for a Spartan Ultra Beast and that will be in10-days.

cd :O)

There will be a full report should I survive the ordeal.