13 days

The countdown to the half-marathon is on: 13 more days before I can finally get 13.1 miles out of my system. I’m looking forward to the marathon being over for a few reasons.

1. I can stop sacrificing time with friends for exercise. I think exercise should be a priority in our lives, but it shouldn’t become something that we place above our relationships. I’ve tried to balance the training with social commitments (i.e., I’ve skipped a run to hang out with friends who are moving to the east coast soon), but there’s only so much you can skip before it becomes detrimental to your training. You don’t want to be unprepared on race day!

2. Anything over six miles is just plain boring. I’ve set my “reasonable run” limit at six miles because that run will take you a full loop around Lake Union, starting and ending at our apartment. I’ve discovered that I like listening to podcasts on a run because I have to think about the discussion, which takes my mind off my legs. However, my podcasts are limited to Adam Carolla and the occasional Mark Driscoll sermon… any suggestions?

3. I can stop feeling guilty because I don’t usually run on Saturdays like my schedule tells me to. Saturdays are for play, not work… but hopefully the Saturday race won’t catch me off guard (see number one). Here’s hoping!