2:37:01

It is done.

I went for a run today, along with almost a thousand other folks. Thirteen point one miles.

The race started just a little after 8:00am and we managed to get to the start mat about a minute after the starting gun went off (or was it a horn?). I ran with two other folks for about the first mile, until it became evident that their pace was just a bit quicker than my pace. So I threw in my earbuds and cranked up the Hillsong United. I was feeling pretty good, when I switched to Switchfoot around mile eight. My brother-in-law (who was not running the race) met me just before mile ten to run the rest of the race with me. I had to make a quick bathroom stop during mile eleven, and then booked it for the finish line. I was very grateful for the strangers who cheered me on, along with family and friends who made me feel like a rock star as I hit the finish line.

Would I do it again? Possibly. But I'd like my next distance run to be somewhere a little more interesting and scenic. Until then, I'll probably just stick to 5K's.

Doing anything on Sunday morning?

I'll be running myself ragged for roughly 150 minutes or so on Sunday morning. You are cordially invited to come out and watch. I will be accepting words of encouragement and high-fives. Here's a map of the race course.

If you can't make it, I'll gladly accept your prayers in place of your presence.

Yahoo

Hey everybody! It's been a little while. I've been busy. Growing my beard.

It's true. While on vacation, I took the opportunity to grow a little facial hair. We'll see how long it lasts. At least until this weekend.

I ran eight miles on Saturday. I took so long that my folks got concerned. I'm running nine miles this Saturday. I'm looking forward to it. Seriously.

While I'm talking about running, I thought it would be fun to try to raise some money for Forgotten Voices. My nieces participated in a jogathon last year, where they got sponsors to sponsor them as they ran laps around the parking lot. I thought I could do that too. So here's the deal, go here and donate a couple of dollars to this cause. They're showing love to children in Africa, many of them who don't have parents of their own to love on them. I'll do my part and run my half-marathon next month. Deal?

Attention Runners!

Hey everybody!! I just found this wicked-cool website that allows you to map out a running route and it will calculate the mileage automatically! Click here.

And so it begins....

Every once in a while, I look for a challenge. I can't recall if I've mentioned this challenge thing before. I know I haven't mentioned this new challenge.

I'm going to run a half-marathon.

Several years back, I had a thought that it would be fun to go run the half-marathon at Disney World. That's supposed to be a fun one because you run through several different parks before they're open to general public. But I had a hard time reconciling running 13 miles for fun.

I still have a hard time gettin' that through my head. But my sister has decided to run this half-marathon, and she invited me along........for the fun. So I took her up on the inviration. I took the first step yesterday. I drove down to Fleet Feet Sports to get properly fitted for some running shoes. If you're ever looking to get hooked up with some shoes, they do a bang-up job. They measure your feet two different ways and examine your gait to figure out the best type of shoe for you. Once I had tried on the shoes, they let me go outside and take a run on the sidewalk. Good stuff! I found a shoe I really like, but I don't have the money for them at the moment.

So I'm tentatively planning on starting my training in June, for a September race. Most of the training schedules I've seen are about 12 weeks long, so that's the plan I'm going with. This will definitely make for good blog fodder, so I'll blog about this more in the future.