April wrap-up

 

May will be a challenging month, as I'll be having the second set of eye surgeries, this time on my right eye. That means, essentially, doing very little running... or at most, easy running... all month. So I guess I will need to really reduce my goal from 60 to, say 30...

In other running news; Suz and I have signed up for her first half marathon in October. I felt pretty torn about suggesting this. On the one hand, I wanted her to have a magical experience for her first half, which made the Tinker Bell half in January seem like the perfect race. I mean, it's women-friendly, it's DISNEY, and it's got an AWESOME medal. :) But on the other hand, I didn't want her to lose her momentum or have to spend November and December wondering if she would be able to complete the half in January.

So hearing about the Biggest Loser half marathon in October, well, it just seemed perfect. It will be a smaller race, in Seattle, and since we signed up before May 1, a bargain at $45. It's completely walker-friendly, too, which will give us plenty of time if anything goes wrong. Besides, it will be a good way to prove that she's ready to run -- which means she'll be more confident and happy going in to the Tink! So I'm excited about that.

I've also been looking in to some of those "fun" 5Ks. I'm a sucker for a Groupon/Living Social/Zozi deal, so I was happy to pick up 2-for-1 entries to the Seattle zombie 5K as well as the Color in Motion 5K. I haven't really run many 5Ks lately -- seems a little silly to pay money to just run 3.1 miles as fast as I can. But I have decided I want to try to run a few different sorts of fun races. (Of course, I laughed out loud when I saw an ad for a 10-miler in Austin, TX, advertised as "no mud, no foam, no chocolate... just ten miles"... and I totally get that.)

There's a piece in the new issue of Runner's World magazine about color runs, etc., noting that over a MILLION people will run color runs in 2013, and that the largest demographic is women running their first 5K. Hey, if that gets people out and active, and makes them think about running, well, I'm all for it! And like I said, I don't need to pay someone to let me run 3.1 miles... but I wouldn't mind paying someone to let me run through mud, over obstacles, through foam, through color powder, or away from zombies. Why not?

I've added a bunch of "proposed' races to my races page, including a color run (registered!), a zombie run (registered!), a foam run, an "electric" run (glow sticks, baby!), and even a "run" where I would be a zombie rather than someone trying to elude zombies. We'll see how many I actually end up doing... but I think mixing it up a bit is a good idea.

I do still want to actually run a fast 5K at some point -- pick a race that isn't too large and try and PR. I think it shouldn't be a problem to PR, as I'm faster now, but I would like to have it be "official". Just probably not while being blasted with color, foam, or zombie gore... And as for the fun runs ... is anyone interested in being a "shuffling zombie" with me?!?