Resolution 1 - Run Half Marathon - Complete!!!

Fargo Marathon weekend is over. As I stated on Facebook minutes after finishing the race, "I rocked the half, but it also rocked me."

I have no idea where to begin so let's start at the beginning of the weekend when I arrived in Fargo and checked in at Motel 6 around 3pm. I felt pretty good and was incredibly stoked for the weekend. About 4:30 I made my way to the Fargodome, which was essentially marathon HQ for the weekend where the start and finish line was, and a bunch of other events that weekend. They had an all day health and fitness expo that day filled exhibitors from other races and health supply vendors and a huge makeshift Scheels store on the show floor mostly comprising the expo. Picked up a lot of info on upcoming races in the area and I ended up buying my first ever Under Armor running shirt from the Scheels store. I actually ended up with two running shirts that weekend since I got a complementary Fargo Half Marathon themed running shirt from my swag bag at the packet pick up.

I perused the expo for about an hour, and then went up for a pasta luncheon they were having for runners to load up on carbs. I sat down at a table with two other veteran runner couples who were very nice and great to talk too. I feel like crap for forgetting their names, but they were both well experienced runners, with one couple from Hudson, Wisconsin and the other from Austin, Texas I believe. They all ran in quite a few marathons before and they had a bunch of great stories about their past runs and they did not seem to mind me picking their brains about a few other races I was curious about. I was surprised they seemed genuinely excited for me when I told them this was my first half marathon and I was shooting for a two hour goal compared to my PR of the few practice half runs I did before of 2 hours 18 minutes.

Also at the luncheon was Ivan Bistro, a former armed forces member who was injured in the line of duty and became permanently blind, but found solace in running. He was quite the inspirational speaker and I thoroughly enjoyed his speech. After that was over, it was time for the only run of Friday, a 5K where part of the proceeds went to get 1,000 pairs of running shoes for kids in the community. They were heavily promoting this race and were hoping to get 10,000 runners to make it the country's biggest 5K, but I believe they stopped short of 9,000. I knew of a few friends running this race so I stood by one of the last turns along with my friend Chris who was rooting on his wife, Lyzz in the race. We watched her finish, and we celebrated for a little while before going our separate ways for the night.

After getting stuck in horrific Fargodome traffic for a good hour to an hour and a half, I finally returned to my hotel and watched a little tv before lying down for some zzzs around 11pm. Unfortunately I simply could not fall asleep, and tossed and turned all night. I was just too psyched up for the race I trained nearly a half a year for. I know I did not sleep a minute because I kept checking my phone every half hour to an hour thinking about how much more time I would be able to sleep if I passed out at that very moment. That moment did not happen, and I finally got out of my vintage rock of a Motel 6 bed around 5am.

Now I was both excited and petrified of going into the fast approaching race with no sleep. I made it to the Fargodome around 6am and stretched and chilled out in the arena seating until it was time to line up for the half marathon race about an hour later. One other fun hurdle that morning and for about the first hour of the race was that it was raining. It was only a light rain, and at least there was not any wind that day and temps remained in the 60s throughout the race so the weather could have been a lot worse. They had us line up by our project finishing times, and even though I was shooting for two hours, I lined up with those shooting for two hours and ten minutes thinking I wanted to avoid my past two race mistakes and not start out guns blazing to avoid flaming out a couple miles in. Nice and steady is exactly what I did for the first two to three miles, I ran what seemed a slower starting paced than what I was accustomed to of around 10 minutes a mile. I was passing a lot of people though at the back of the pack so that kept me in high spirits.

The entire race day vibe was amazing, and so was the sense of community. There were spectators lined up on almost all the city blocks the race passed through, with many having creative signs and kids crying out for high fives! It was also cool to see bands set up at every mile. I am glad I still brought my MP3 player though with my custom playlist of tunes I had set up for the race to keep my motivated. I also loved there were plenty of water and Powerade stations every mile or two set up throughout the race. I remember two occasions where I doused myself with a cup of water to wash away the increasing sweat streaming down me as the rain stopped and the day got more humid.

I had some unexpected motivation around mile four of the race. Think of probably the five worst things that can happen to a runner, it happened to me at mile four....and again around mile seven. Now I did not collapse or got hurt, but it was definitely one of the next worst things. I am refusing to say what happened, but find me on a night of drinking and I may indulge you with the details. That said, I really wanted to finish the race and quickly forgot about getting no sleep and stepped up my pace from around 10 minutes a mile to 9 minutes a mile.

I prayed the night before to run my best and keep up a consistent pace, and if that was what needed to happen it worked. Somehow, someway I kept that pace up and after checking my mile splits on RunKeeper I was amazed I kept all my miles under the ten minute mark. When it came to the final mile, I mumbled a few words of encouragement to myself and hauled ass to finish strong. I really wanted to finish in under two hours, but I just missed it with a final time of 2:02:48. I am still super proud of my effort though and that I did way better than my practice run attempts.

That race day vibe gave me the boost I needed to keep up that pace and not slow down. I just kept telling myself to keep passing runners to maintain pace, and that is what I did. It seemed like a countless field of runners with no end in sight. Remember the classic arcade racing games, Hang-On or Pole Position? That is kind of what running a marathon is like, not really but there are some parallels by passing countless racers and never seeing what position you are in until you find out after the race. I found out my aforementioned official time online last night, my official average pace was 9 minutes, 23 seconds a mile, and I have an official placing in the half marathon of 2073rd of 5558 runners. Just squeezed into the top half.

I felt great about my run and took in some post race snacks that were available at the Fargodome to refuel. Later in the afternoon I met up with Chris and Lyzz to end my 105 day pizza exodus at Rhombus Pizza in Fargo. All three of us devoured their award winning T-Rex pizza; it never tasted better! But after the race, and that mighty fine pizza all that lack of sleep was setting in and I was getting very tired, and to top it off my left foot was pretty damn sore. I was originally planning to hit up this club in Fargo that was having an official post marathon party with several bands playing, but no sleep and a super sore foot resulted in me not wanting to rock out. Instead, I had an interesting hour long drive back to Grand Forks.

It was about 6pm when I got back last night, and I still wanted to do a little celebrating, so I met up with a couple of friends at this bar literally across the street from me. I will give a shout out to Denny's (the local bar, not the restaurant) because they somehow find a way to make a drink wicked strong, but still quite tasty. I got there at 8pm and was only there for a couple hours, but their three Long Islands I had their completely annihilated me and I succeeded in passing out happy, completely oblivious of my very aching left foot. It feels a bit better today, but still a little sensitive.

So that was my Fargo Marathon weekend. It was the right combination of awesome and horrible, and I will never forget a minute of it. I will keep running and hopefully have at least future blogs here on other races I compete in throughout the year. Thank you to everyone who helped support me and encouraged me in running this past year, every little word of encouragement helped me keep pushing for new goals and distances. I do not want to get too ambitious, but who knows, maybe next year at Fargo will mark the time I run my first ever full marathon.

Resolution 1 - Run Half Marathon - Day Before Preview Blog

Tomorrow is the big race day when I compete in my first ever half marathon race in Fargo. Past couple of days I have been trying to get in the right mindset to prepare for this event I signed up for nearly five months ago. I found a video showing a bunch of highlights and shots throughout last year's course so I know what I am in for. Yesterday I watched one of my favorite sports movies, Hoosiers followed up by an excellent running documentary, Spirit of the Marathon to get my psyche on.

Right after I finish writing up this blog, I will be heading down to Fargo where they have a ton of activities going on the day before the race. There is a fitness expo that will be going on all day, as well as a 5K run where the race organizers were trying to sign up 10,000 people for the nation's largest 5K and raise money for shoes for kids in the area. There is a pasta and lefse feed that evening so everyone can load up on carbs the day before the race.

It is too bad the weather is not looking too pretty for race day. When I last checked it looks like it will be raining off and on tomorrow morning throughout race time. At least the temperatures will be ideal ranging in the 60s tomorrow morning. They also are doing live online tracking of runners this year, so if you happen to be online tomorrow morning between 7:30 and 10, click here and then click 'track runner' to see my progress. I am shooting to finish the half in under two hours. The fastest I have done before on my several practice runs is 2 hours and 18 minutes, but I got a feeling I will have that race day adrenaline going on for a big boost which helped me achieve my fastest 5k and 10k times earlier this year.

I am super excited and super nervous for the race tomorrow. I got a feeling I will love it no matter how awesome or awful I perform. That wraps it up for my preview blog, check back in a couple days and hopefully I will have a detailed rundown of the marathon experience.

Resolution 1 - Run Half Marathon - Progress Update

It feels weird blogging about running in the wake of the horrific bombings at the Boston Marathon last week. Never would I have imagined for something like that to happen at the biggest race of the country. My thoughts and prayers goes out to all those affected by this. It was encouraging to see all the outreach and support by the runners immediately after the bombings. There were also a plethora of positive articles I read throughout the week on various and blogs and websites about how this will not get in the way of runners in future races and will not prevent us from doing what we love. I can only echo those sentiments.

A great example of runners coming together in support/honor of Boston, was the local running club in town organizing a 2.62 mile group run open for everyone the day after the tragedy. My friend Adam and I ran with the front of the pack throughout it, and we all wore special runners' bibs and ribbons in honor of Boston while most of the runners wore the blue and yellow colors of Boston. It was a great experience running in a group in that setting that I will never forget. The picture to the upper left is from the local paper in town covering the run where you can see my friend Adam on the second to the left, and you can see a third of my blurry face tucked behind some runners to the right.

Earlier today also marked the second official race I competed in. UND was hosting a 5K run for Autism that looped around the campus. The weather has been gorgeous today, and it was around 28 degrees on a sunny day at race time. Unfortunately, this past month it has still been snowing fairly consistently and for one quarter mile stretch early on in the race, and towards the end again when it looped back there was a horrible stretch of trail that was caked in ice and frozen snow that was nearly impossible to run around. I tumbled into another runner taking a fall, and luckily was able to collapse onto a snow bank to break my fall to the side, and also had several scary slips throughout the race and saw at least a few other runners wipeout too. It was surprisingly dangerous on this stretch of trail, and I am shocked the race coordinators did not have someone attempt to plow or break up the ice prior to the race.

Extraordinarily icy conditions aside, I felt pretty confident going into this race. I recall on the 10K I ran in February I ran about half of it nonstop at a relatively fast race pace before slowing down, so I went in with a strategy of really going full steam ahead for the entire race thinking I can keep the pace up. After that initial icy stretch, I amped it up and was making great headway to the point I was within the top ten for the first half of the race of approximately 125-150 runners. Then, after about three songs into my playlist I could hear myself breathing very hard and I was grasping for air with increasingly deeper and deeper breaths. I started to slow down, and managed not to have many runners pass me until the final mile when I played it very safe on that returning icy stretch.

The running app on my phone said I finished with a time of 27:11, though I think 26:30 is a little more realistic because I started the timer shortly before the race started, and went about a half minute before remembering to turn off the stop watch after I finished while I was desperately looking for a glass of water. I have no idea if official results will be posted online for this small race, but I would guess I finished around 30th and felt pretty good how I did, especially by how winded I was for the last half of the race. I think that is the hardest I have ever started off a run yet.

Falling down and going through those scary icy conditions aside, I had a great time, and there was a great group at the finishing line giving loud applause for everyone who finished that made it all worthwhile. I definitely got that competitive race day spirit in me; I just got to learn to control it and balance out my pace a little more so I am not gassed by the halfway mark again. It is just under a month away until the big half marathon in Fargo I have been training for since Christmas. Here is to hoping the town will not be flooded with our record breaking snowfall this winter, and that there will please be no icy conditions come race time.

4/22/2013 Update - Race results did get posted online, I ended up finishing 23rd out of 74 competitors with a time of 26 minutes and 22 seconds. Not as many people as I thought, but I also finished a little better than I did as well.

Resolution 1 - Run the Half Marathon - Progress Update

I swear I must have jinxed myself. Shortly after posting the last blog, I went and checked the forecast for Lisbon, ND (a small town near where the race was taking place). My how different the forecast changed. It went from a high in the mid 30s to a high of 20. And over the next couple of days the forecast kept getting worse and worse to the point of a race time starting temperature of 2 above, and only a 13 degree high that day.

To make it worse, the night before the race we got several inches of snow which led to horrible highway driving conditions. I kept checking in on the event's Facebook page for updates from other racers coming from Grand Forks and Winnipeg saying they were stuck at rest stops or decided to turn around and go back. My little 'ol Ford Ranger does not have four wheel drive and loves to fishtail in the slightest amounts of snow, so I knew there was no way I was going to be able to make that drive down there.

I hated to do it, but I sent an email out to one of the race coordinators notifying them of my withdrawal from the race. I still wanted to go out and do some kind of big run that day, because I bought way too much gear and spent a ton of time prepping up for it. So I went out to the Greenway bike path in town and convinced myself I was going to run an 8 mile loop four times over. Well, it sounded like a good idea until I realized none of the Greenway was plowed, which I was prepared for until I ran into some nasty drifts I had to run around. Also add in the fact it was barely above zero, with some nasty wind gusts to boot. After six miles, I came to the realization this was a stupid idea with no big race day vibe and fellow racer camaraderie and was not how I wanted my first big run to go down and so I despondently went back to my vehicle and drove home.

I was pretty upset about how the whole day went down, and tried to make it better by grabbing a bite with my brother and a few friends, but that did not really do the trick. They went out for drinks and some early St. Patty's celebrating while I went and slept the night away...literally. Sorry no happy ending to this blog, and the weather looks to be getting worse this next week so it looks like it will be back to running on the treadmill again for the foreseeable future. Will just have to train hard until the Fargo Marathon in two months.

If there is some upside to this, it is probably for the best I did not compete in that race. Out of the original 53 racer field, only 32 made it out there to race day. And out of the 32, only 19 finished. Some racers got frostbite and early stages of hypothermia. I imagined I would not have fared that well out there other. Blessing in disguise, I guess.

Resolution 1 - Run the Half Marathon - Progress Update

For reasons that will be impossible for me to explain, and presumably for anyone to understand. I signed up to run an Ultra Marathon. 31.1 miles. This Saturday. On a nature trail mostly covered in snow in the middle of nowhere. I am out of my mind, I know. I have been signed up for this for a few weeks now, and am eagerly anticipating it, and petrified of it at the same time. I have been training rigorously since, but we shall see what I am made of come race day. All I can say is I went with my gut, and even though the farthest I have ever run was a half marathon before, somehow, someway my body was telling me I can do this.

There are only two checkpoint stations during the race. From what I understand, each station will have a medical staff there examining each racer as they pass by, and even if the racer persists on continuing it will be up to the staff to decide if they will continue or not. In all likelihood, I will probably only make it to the first station, maybe the second before walking away. These are incredibly extreme conditions I will be running in. From what I hear on the event's Facebook page, a lot of the race will be a slog, through a trail made primarily from snowshoes. The second half of the race has numerous sets of rolling hills making for a more challenging race. To top it all off, on my safety waiver I had to sign, I was forewarned of possible cougars in the areas. A coworker also familiar with the area of the race told me to be on the watch for packs of coyotes too.

I have been primarily running outside in the cold the past month to prep up for this. My friend Adam went on a couple training runs with me this week with some nice elevation changes over the course of 9 miles. For some real preparation for the hills though, I found a part of our mammoth city dike system along the bike path and ran up and down it for a half hour. My legs felt like spaghetti, but I think those were some extreme training scenarios to go through so whatever the slog is like come Saturday will hopefully be a lesser experience.

I have bought a ton of gear to make sure I have all my bases covered. We were required to get Gaiters and Headlamps. Gaiters make sense and I am glad I got some for however deep some of that snow is to trudge through. I will be wearing two sets of socks, with my outer layer being a heavy duty set of calf high socks. The trail is marked by flags, but in a worst case scenario in the event we get lost for several hours is what the headlamps are for. I also picked up a glow in the dark vest just in case. Also purchased a waist belt holder for a water bottle, a ski mask, and a outer glove liner for my running gloves. Finally, I picked up 8 gels to help replenish calories and energy throughout the run.

The weather looks like it will be fair in the area, with highs in the mid 30s, and come race time the temp will be in the mid 20s. It will actually probably be the warmest weather I will be running in this year thankfully since it has been a much colder March than last year. Last year we had temps in the 40s and 50s this time, and right now the warmest I have been able to run in recently was only 33 degrees a couple weeks ago. At least it will be a hell of a lot better than running in zero degree weather last month. I will still be wearing two tech tees and a windbreaker, so I will be plenty warm.

Look, I know my odds of finishing this are not promising, but something deep down is telling me to go for it. Call it whatever you want, but I am sick and tired of running away from challenges most of my life, so even if I do fail, at least I know I had the heart to try. Keeping up with my glass half full outlook on life, finish or not, at the very least this will be considerably effective training for the half marathon.

Resolution 1 - Run the Half Marathon - Progress Update

As promised last blog, I am reporting back from the first race I ran, well the first race I ran since cross country track meets back in elementary school. The 2013 Frozen Feat 10K went about as well as I thought it would. Looking back at previous year's results, and comparing to my average running pace I predicted I would finish in the middle of the pack, which is pretty much what happened.

I was feeling pretty good going into race day and with 22 degrees forecasted as the high. Bad news was it was not suppose to warm up until the afternoon and at 10am race time it was 0 degrees. I threw on a windbreaker on top of what I was wearing for the practice runs, which definitely helped because it was kind of gusty out there with light blowing snow on top of it which led to many people with icicle beards, yours truly included.

I was probably a little too excited at the beginning of the race, especially since I had "Gonna Fly Now" from the Rocky Soundtrack as the first song on my playlist which wound up to me starting at a pace a little faster than I intended. It led to the first two miles going really well and me passing by many fellow runners, but after the two mile mark my speed gradually slowed down for the remainder of the race and I saw many runners passing me for the rest of the race.

At least I ran it nonstop, with no walk breaks and broke my record for the three practice runs I did in the week leading up to it. I finished with a time of 53 minutes, 57 seconds and an overall place of 50th out of 108 runners competing in the 10k. Thank goodness they had hot soup inside right after the race which I immediately grabbed after finishing. I then hunted down my mom and her boyfriend who were watching and saw me finished and complemented me on my icicle beard. They treated me to Perkins afterwards where I lost track of how many cups of coffee I put down. They snapped a photo of me which I included here, I apologize for not getting one right after the race so you all can witness my icicle beard, maybe next year!

First race experience was a thrill, when checking in I picked up a packet of many other upcoming races that I have been pondering over to compete in or not, including an upcoming 10K in Crookston, and a 50K in the middle of the Cheyenne Grasslands in North Dakota which I absolutely should not compete in, but just that type of scenery and journey of a race is mighty tempting not to pass up. We shall see!

Resolution 1 - Run the Half Marathon - Progress Update

This past week I have been training pretty hard for my first ever race this coming Saturday, The Frozen Feat 10k. It will be a great stepping stone in getting ready for the half marathon in Fargo this May. Since my last update last week, the weather has started to get nicer with a few days in the 20s and 30s here so I went out and tracked down the course and did three practice runs this past week. I will give a shout out to my friend Justine who is also going to be running the race and went on one of the practice runs with me!

This winter running gear I mentioned a few blogs back has been working out great so far, and I am now regretting retreating to the gym as early as I did last fall. It feels so refreshing to run outside again and not to be staring at the same old monitors and treadmill numbers over and over. I am getting surprisingly comfortable running on ice and snow. No major close calls so far on the four outdoor runs I have been on this year so far, just a few minor slips which I anticipated and was prepared for and did not come close to tumbling over.

Forecast is looking to be fair for this Saturday with a high forecasted of 20 degrees, so it will probably be around 10-15 out when the race starts at 10am. On my practice runs I have been average a nine and a half minute pace, and my last run clocked in at just over 54 minutes. Looking at last year's results if I maintain that average I should be finishing up in the middle of the pack, which I am fine with but rest assured I am going to be trying my best. I have no idea if headphones are barred or not because I prepped up a pretty high tempo playlist to run the race to. If headphones are not allowed, hopefully being in a crowd of a few hundred fellow racers with many more cheering on will get my adrenaline pumping to new levels to help fuel me on.

Obviously I am psyched for my first race, and cannot wait to go out there and see what I can do. I will return with my next blog detailing how the entire race went down in a few days.

Resolution 1 - Run a Half Marathon - Training Update

Since my last entry on running a couple weeks ago, I made the trek to Scheels and spent way too much money on winter running clothes in preparation for the local Frozen Feat 10k run. I purchased a Nike inner shell that was surprisingly comfy, some track pants and running gloves. Today was one of our warmest days of the last several weeks which has mostly consisted of temps dipping into subzero almost every day. It got up to 26 degrees this afternoon, and I felt it was a perfect opportunity to bust out the winter running gear for a test....run, sorry.

I went for a quick 2.35 mile run to see how warm the running gear would get after generating some body heat. From what I have gathered, dressing lightly for winter runs is the way to go, it is pretty bitter for the first five to ten minutes, but once the body heat kicks in it is smooth sailing the rest of the way. My run was for a little under a half hour, and that was pretty much how it went down for me. I was not freezing by any means initially, especially compared to our temps that were 20 to 30 degrees cooler a couple days prior, but I was easily a little chilly in my light clothing attire at the start. Though after five to ten minutes, I felt the body heat pumping and was fine for the rest of the duration of the run. Hopefully once temps settle into the 20s and 30s regularly here hopefully within a month I can get be done with the treadmill for awhile and switch to running outdoors again full time.

I did go out and pick up a cheap windbreaker for a light outer shell afterwards, just in case on run day in a few weeks temps are in the single digits. If that is not the case, well, I was in need of a new spring jacket anyways so I am a winner regardless! The day before my first outdoor run of the year, I reached two huge milestones for me running on the treadmill. I finally broke the 10 mile mark with a 10.2 mile run in 100 minutes. Like I stated before, each run I have either been increasing my amount of time and/or speed running by a minute or two or an extra tenth mile an hour. It felt great finally breaking that pesky 10 mile barrier. From what I have read and heard from friends, come marathon time you are going on adrenaline for the last few miles so I should be well conditioned now to last the half marathon.

I have been debating now for the next few months by looking at other half marathon training programs how to spread out my runs. I have been leaning towards one program that consists of five runs a week going in the pattern of 5 miles/2 miles/off/6 miles/3 miles/10 miles/off a week. If anyone has any pointers or past experiences to share on getting ready for a marathon I am all ears. Feel free to leave a comment below, or email or tweet me.

Resolution #1 - Run a Half Marathon - in training

For those of you that follow me on Facebook, you have most likely seen my frequently recurring running progress updates from my RunKeeper app for the past several months(unless you decided to hide them, then boo on you ;)). As I mentioned in my previous blog, I made 12 resolutions for 2012 and one of them from the outset was to start going to the gym. I joined the newly opened Planet Fitness in town, which had an irresistible rate of $10/month, and started going regularly to the gym a few times a week from the first week of the year on.

Around the time I started going I had a few friends that started to go on a big gym/health kick a few months before. They were pretty happy with their results, and understandably promoting their new lifestyle. Also going on in the beginning of 2012 I somehow managed to come through and defy odds of a random personal goal I set for myself: no hamburgers or pizza for a 100 days. I lost a little bit of weight, not too much from that stretch and wanted to do more to keep it off and then some, so combining that with the persistent nudging from a few friends led to me enrolling in the gym a little over a year ago.

I knew I wanted to focus on cardio and trying condition myself to long runs from the get go. I also knew I had no conditioning whatsoever for running. Smart, I know. I think a couple of times the previous year I only managed to run a block before getting gassed. So I started slow, primarily walking for ten minute stretches on the treadmill, with only thirty seconds of running in the middle, and I would dread those thirty seconds every single time like I dread watching a Transformers movie. After a few workouts, I would step it up to 45 seconds of running, and after a few more, a whole freaking minute of nonstop running.

You get the idea, these were babysteps, but freaking huge steps for me. Come summertime last year once it got nice enough outside, I was going out on near one mile runs. Then I moved across town in May and had a plethora of new running options available to me on the other side of town. Within a few weeks, I plotted myself a new mile and a half stretch I got comfortable to running and stuck with that route for about a month until I got crazy ambitious one day and tried a new route that was triple what I was use to at that point, nearly three and a half miles! Then I made the terrible mistake to do my first run on that route nonstop with no breaks. I have no idea how, but I found the willpower to pull it off, but I was really sore and hurting for the next few days because of it.

I persevered however and stuck with that route, with two well timed breaks, which eventually transitioned into one break, and by the end of the summer I made a few tweaks to that route where it went from three and half miles to four and a quarter. At this point however, that ever so familiar North Dakota winter started to reemerge and it was back to running indoors on the treadmill. I admire all the winter runners out there, but I absolutely dread slipping and wiping out on the ice, I took three tumbles doing regular summer running last year so I do not want to imagine my odds come winter time.

A few months back when I started to run again on the treadmill, I got into this nasty habit of stepping up my running almost every other run. Be it upping my speed just .1 mph or an extra minute in the entire run. The results have been dramatic, I have nearly doubled the amount I conditioned myself from running in three months from four and a half miles to eight and a half and counting. This led to me giving a lot of serious thought into running a half marathon about a month ago, and as a serious goal to push myself to.

A big part of me was afraid to sign up for it. "Maybe I should just be content on doing a 5k or 10k." But I still had this huge part of my conscience nagging at me for not doing any sports in high school, and felt I was capable of doing more. I have come a long way this past year, and as much as I hate to admit it, I actually ENJOY running now. Somehow I found it quite liberating the longer the duration. I just feel that not only completing the race, but trying my absolute best to practice for it and perform well in this half marathon would be the quintessential exclamation point on what I have worked towards this past year. I know I am getting in over my head and there are no doubt many more experienced and veteran runners that will be competing, but rest assured I will be giving 110% out there.

So, on Christmas day a few weeks ago I ended up buying myself the present of registering to run in the Fargo half marathon come this May. A half marathon is just over 13 miles, I still have another four and a half miles to condition myself for. A week ago I did something else I fear I may end up having disastrous results. I was informed by my friend Justine of the annual "Frozen Feat" 5k/10k race about a month out from now right in Grand Forks. As noted above, I am petrified of wiping out in the winter, and I am just not too keen on running in freezing temperatures either. I initially laughed off the Frozen Feat, but then my aforementioned conscience kept nagging at me that this would be a great way to warm up for the half marathon and experience that race day atmosphere whether it is 35 or 80 degrees out.

So against all my better judgment I ended up signing up for the Frozen Feat a few days ago and come next payday am going to make a trip down to Scheels to pick up some outdoor running gear I have been researching.

This is where I stand right now working towards running a half marathon, expect another blog updating this resolution around the time of the Frozen Feat race a month from now and if I managed to survive it unscathed.

Photo credit - Red River Runners Club Facebook Page