I found a race.  I haven’t committed yet, like sending in my money and actually registering committed, but its pretty well set in my mind.  The ARC HM looks like a good size, its a dedicated HM, not slapped onto the back of a marathon, I’ve got the perfect amount of time to train for it, it’s a great cause, it’s not too pricey or far away, and it gives me enough time after I run it to recover and still be able to run the Philly HM in November.  BF of course looked at me like I was nuts when I mentioned this to him, the idea of me being out running training for it for hours at a time took him off guard, but there are crazier reasons than that to  be scared.

Obstacles to overcome:

1. Doing my toughest training and longest running to date during the dead heat of summer.  I may just have to become a morning runner yet to combat the heat.  Granted, this isn’t the south, our summer can be fairly mild.  However, it’s June and we’re setting record temps, I feel that that doesn’t bode well for August.
2. Commitment.  I need to absolutely stick to my plan.  Sure, no problem.  I’m best at running when I have a specific training plan I’m following and a goal I want to reach.  The problem lies in the rest of life’s commitments.  There’s 5 days out of town next week (should be low key and offer lots of time for running).  A possible full week and then some in Florida  (running in Florida in July?  Ugh…).  Did I mention I’m maid of honor for my best friends wedding?  Did I mention that the wedding happens to be the weekend after my projected race?  Yeah…On the plus side I should be feeling pretty fit and good about myself by the time that rolls around.  On the other hand I’m going to be out of town and taking care of all sorts of details for the bridal shower and the bachelorette party.  Oh yeah, my brother and sister are graduating High School and have a graduation party scheduled for mid-July.  And then there’s the family get-together at the end of this month which all adds up to more time traveling, and more weekends out of town when  I’m supposed to be doing my long runs.  Can you tell I’m kinda freaking out over all of this, and I’ve only just begun my training plan!?!  Oh wait, and I’ve already forgotten, my uncle’s annual b-day bash (skippable if necessary), BF’s birthday (still need to plan something for that…) and moe.down is the weekend before my HM, thankfully I’m supposed to be tapering then anyway, though I suppose running up the mountain there could be a good hill workout right?  And running down I can practice low-HR training!
3. Self-doubt.  I can do this.  I know it in my heart, my brain just needs to get up to speed.  Right now it’s kinda going…ummmm…you haven’t been running enough to do this.  I have been spotty, but my mileage is still ready to get into this plan.  The first couple weeks are pretty easy, after that I just need to keep pushing myself forward, not get down, not hate myself for a bad run.  I can do this.
4. Staying balanced.  I can’t be all consumed by running and I have a tendency to throw myself into things that way.  It just leads to me being burnt out and the people in my life not being very happy with me.  If BF is already nervous about the time commitments I don’t want to give him just cause to be down on me running this race.  If that means getting up earlier to run, so be it.

Nervous excitement.  That’s me right now with most aspects of my life.  Some of those reasons I’m not going to divulge just yet for fear of jinxing them…