Crazy? I Was Crazy Once...

Seattle Half Marathon
Seattle, WA

Overall Time: 2:00:47 (9:14 m/m)
Placing: 877/4380 F OA, 128/686 AG 35-39

Fashion Report: Black Adidas capris, burgundy New Balance LS Tech Shirt, black running vest, Grand Columbian Triathlon hat, black gloves
Breakfast Report: Steel-cut oatmeal w/ cranberries, brown sugar, cinnamon & milk, coffee, water
Race Nutrition: Vanilla Gu at mile 5.5, water or Gatorade at all the aid stations (approximately every 2 miles)
Post Race Libation: Deschutes Summer's Over Saison

I know what you're thinking. And yes I realize it was borderline crazy batsh!t insane to wake up one morning and decide to sign up for a half marathon on a whim, one that was taking place the very.next.day. But I have always wanted to be in the position to be able to do stuff like this on a whim and after years of hard work, I can say that I can, within reason of course.

OK, so where does the *reason* bit come in? I can say I would not have done this if the following were not true:

1. I've consistently been running 5-6 times a week for the last couple of months and for the last three weeks, my mileage has been over 30 mpw.
2. I'm basebuilding for a Spring marathon.
3. I already had to log 13 miles over the weekend. Granted, those miles were split into 5 and 8 on separate days but 13 all at once works too.
4. If #3 didn't make sense, see #1 and #2.
5. We were already going to be in Seattle since Chad was running the full and they still had registration open at the Expo
6. Thanks to the fabulous Chief SnugWow and Tammy, we had childcare lined up.
7. Forget racing the thing. I was going to stay disciplined and run at/close to marathon pace for the entire 13.1 miles.
8. I was not going to let the race atmosphere get to my head so that I would have a chance to be successful accomplishing #7.
9. #8 was a lot harder to do than I thought but the hills helped
10. It was raining on Saturday morning and the thought of going out to run 8 miles in the cold, dark, wet was not appealing, not to mention carving out time to do 5 on Sunday.

That said, I'm pretty sure there are much easier ways to score another nice long-sleeve tech shirt but I'd definitely sign up for another race again on a whim. Maybe next time I'll choose a 5K instead.