Decision Time!

First off, I apologize for going so long without an update. My intention was to make a post every week or so, so that everyone would know how my training was going. Well, time sort of escaped me, and here we are.

People have started asking me whether or not I'm still running. And the answer is....YES! I am. I actually just committed last week. See, when you first sign up for TNT, you're in sort of a trial period. You pick an event, and start training and fundraising for it, but you're not really locked into anything.

Then, about 2 months before the event, you have to commit for real. This allows the group to make the reservations for travel and hotel, register people for the run, etc. I don't actually do any of that myself; it's all done through the group.

So now I'm in for the long haul! Which means I need to get back into the gear of fundraising so I can meet my goal!

There is one change to my original plan, however, which is why this post is titled "Decision Time."

Instead of running a full marathon, I'm going to run a half.

I know, I know. Gasp! But but....you wanted to do a full! Are you giving up? Well, no. I still do want to run a full, and I will in the not too distant future. I'm just not doing the full for this event.

But why!?!

Glad you asked. When I originally signed up for this back in March (or so), I wasn't sure if I wanted to do a full or a half for this particular event. In the end, I signed up for the full because it would be easier to drop from a full to a half then to bump it up from a half to a full (both for training and registration reasons). I figured I'd sign up for the run that would give me more flexibility to change later, if need be.

So why the switch? I want to run at Disney again. See, the half marathon is already full (haha). The full marathon isn't. So if I want to run at Disney in January, I am going to be doing the full. And if I run a full marathon in October, and then one again in January, I just might die. Well maybe not, but it's more strain than I want to put on my body. Remember I'm still a novice runner. Now, quite conveniently, running a half marathon in October is pretty good training for running a full in January. So doing it this way will actually set me up rather well for the full at Disney!

This also gives me the bonus side effect of allowing me to ease up a bit on training, so I can focus more on fundraising and the other things going on in my life. For instance, back when my mid-week runs took 20 minutes, it was pretty easy to fit those in. Now that they take an hour or so, it's a bit harder. (Running 6 miles takes longer than running only 2.) And it will only get more difficult, as the mileage builds up and the semester begins.

I've already done a half marathon before, and I'm actually in much better shape now than I was for that one. So I'm not too concerned about the run. Instead, I can stress more about raising money to meet my (other) goal.

Speaking of which, I have another $250 to submit. This will put me at about 25% of the way there. I need to raise $3,000 in 2 months, so all help is most appreciated! If anyone has any ideas for things to do, please let me know.