Alright, let’s play a game called “Good idea or Bad idea”!
Here’s how it works: I’ll tell you about my life, then ask you a question about whether I should run a half marathon, and you tell me if it’s a good idea or a bad idea. (Spoiler alert! It’s a bad idea, but I want to do it anyways, so tell me it’s a good idea. wink wink!)
Here’s some background-
- The company I work for has a program that pays race entries for employees and their friends/family (with some restrictions)
- Since I moved at the end of July 2015, a lot of the races are local to me, but I’ve only been able to participate in 1 so far (due to the time of year, pregnancy, general busyness)
- They just sent an email with the spring schedule of races which has a half marathon on the list that’s in the next town over
- I have not run more than 5 miles since, hmmm….well, it’s been over a year
- The aforementioned 5 miles happened once…Turkey Trot 2016, aside from that I mostly run/walk no more than 4 miles at a time (3 times a week, at best)
- In the last 3 weeks, I have run once….2 miles, and I walked a good chunk
- I am studying for an exam that is at the end of April, and while I wouldn’t say it’s going poorly, I will admit that I am doing the bare minimum and struggling to get that done. (I say this to insinuate that I have no time for training, and if I somehow make time for training, I should really be using that time for studying instead)
To recap- I am in no shape (physically) to run a half marathon, I have almost zero time to train for a half marathon, and yet… I WANT TO RUN THIS HALF MARATHON!!! And it would be FREE!

Finishing my last half, which was apparently almost 3 years ago! Gosh, has it really been so long??!
So, here’s the big question: Good Idea or Bad Idea?
Oh, also it’s in like 9 weeks.
Talk me into or out of it, please!
I would say “good idea, IF … ”
The IF is if you allow yourself to not worry about time, to allow yourself a ‘fun run’, to allow yourself a 1:1 walk/run ratio … and if you can find 30 minutes a couple of times a week at least to get in some runs.
I’m okay with all those IFs, my only hang up is I need to find time in my schedule for a long run… That’s a real puzzle right now.
Amy : it’s absolutely a Good Idea !!!
I like the way you think! Haha
I second Mike – good idea if you’re not worried about time and you want to run (or run/walk) it just for grins. I ran a half back in June that I hadn’t really trained for – I had only run 5 miles during my “training” – that maybe in theory wasn’t the best idea, but since I knew I wasn’t worrying about time and that I’d just be taking it easy and having fun, I went for it anyway and didn’t regret it. Maybe this race would be a good way to blow off stress related to the test you’re studying for too?
If you really want to run it and it’s free and you won’t be upset/push yourself to injury over the racing part of it, then I say go for it! 🙂
Definitely not going to really push myself, but I’m craving long distance! Just got to find the time for a long run. Tricky tricky!
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