Go Big or Go Home

We received our latest copy of Runner's World yesterday and that, combined with the enthusiastic support of my significant other, has convinced me to run the Seattle Marathon this year.

I don't normally do New Year's Resolutions, but I'm willing to set myself challenging goals. I sort of thrive when I have something I'm working towards. An aimless Larry is an unhappy Larry. This year, my main goal was to run a half marathon. I haven't done it yet, but the phrase "go big or go home" has been floating through my head ever since She put it in my head to do the full monty. So, I'm going to run the whole damn thing.

Wish me luck.

I have some options as far as training plans go, but I'm leaning toward Hal Higdon's Novice 1 Marathon training plan. I'm sure it's not exactly called that, but that will get you close enough if you want to go looking for it. My tentative plan is to update this after every run to help me see where my head is at with this thing, but I may send up the occasional thought balloon when the mood otherwise hits me. I think this is a good plan because if I tie this blog to something else I'm doing regularly then I'm more likely to keep it updated.

In addition to the marathon, I've got some other runs leading up to it. I'll be doing the Furry 5k (this Sunday actually), the Seafair 8k in July, the first annual Lake Union 10k in August, and the Brewhaha 5k in September. I'll probably find another short race to squeeze in for October.

I'm not planning anything spectacular. I'm only going to hold myself to one goal as far as the marathon is concerned: finish. If it takes me five hours, then that's how long it takes. I don't need to be the fastest, and I won't be bothered (too much) if I'm the last. The only one I'm really competing with is me, and I think i can whip my ass any day of the week.