A Half Marathon Is Planned......We'll See What Happens

A friend and co-worker, Shannon, has been involved in half-marathon and marathon running for several years, associated with fund raising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Many of the large organizations use running events to enhance fund raising.  In Shannon's case, she signed up for a given run, agreed to a certain amount of fund raising, was supported in her running by an ancilliary organization called Team In Training, and had her way paid to the event.  She ran her half-marathon in Phoenix and enjoyed it so much she signed up to be the a team captain for a marathon the following year--in Dublin, Ireland!  The opportunity to travel is a nice motivator, but fund raising in the thousands of dollars is required, so it's well-earned.

I'm a long-time runner, but have not chosen to be involved in public events very often, nor do I train for speed.  As I said to a friend:  why sign up for a 10K and come in last when I can run by myself and come in first--every time!!  I also haven't often trained for distance.  However, this year I wanted a bigger challenge, so I asked Shannon if she'd like to train for and run a half-marathon together-minus any fundraising.  She enthusiastically agreed.

We signed up for the half-marathon part of the Flagstaff Marathon on September 22.  We chose our training schedules, and agreed to get together for long run training when we could.  Shannon and her husband Jim have been involved in a 10K Freedom Run sponsored by the New Horizon Christian Academy--Shannon runs, Jim prepares food.  She invited me to participate in that event as part of our training.  I enthusiastically agreed, setting aside the above mentioned philosophy.

We ran the Freedom Run 10K on July 21.  What a great event it was!  Very well organized, the route well marked with plenty of water stations, plenty of prizes, a band, and Jim's great food afterwards.  It needs a bit more advertising, because Flagstaff is a 10K crazy town, and this run fielded 115 runners.  Some of the other 10Ks draw a field of 500 runners.












However, the lesser numbers made for a delightfully uncrowded run.  What's more, in a stroke of irony, I came in third in my age group...and got a really nice medal, and a free pizza from Papa Murphy's Pizza! This is no end of amusing, don't you agree?    

As for the "we'll see what happens part"....Shannon and I ran a 6 mile training run on a rocky trail.  She tripped on said rocks and took two hard falls.  Her chiropractor told her she might have some whiplash, besides some really sore muscles. That took her out of running for about a week.  She's still having some trouble with her neck.  A week ago tomorrow,  we ran an 8 mile training run, and I felt a tweak in my lower back.  It  rapidly became painful to walk, and running out of the question.  I've had one session of physical therapy and have several more scheduled.  The therapist believes it will heal pretty quickly...but September 22 is staring us in the face, and there needs to be a couple more long runs in there!  We'll see what happens..........