I've been contemplating running a half marathon for a while. My plan was to run the Grand Island Half Marathon May 5th in my hometown. But then I found out that because of everyone's help with this blog last year, it's winning an award from the Syracuse Press Club, and the awards dinner is that night. So I've been debating whether or not to still run Grand Island. I'm not sure I really want to run for three hours and then hop in a car and drive two and a half hours back to Syracuse.

I start doing research on other half marathons in the area, and I find one in Rochester, the Flower City Half Marathon. It seems like a relatively flat course. It fits into my schedule. My fiance Jim's parents will be in town and my family says they will be able to come up. So, Sunday night, I sign up for it.

I'm all signed up for the Flower City Half Marathon, and as I continue to research it, I get more of a sense of foreboding, which turns into all out freaking out. It starts at 7:30 a.m., which means I'll have to get there by 6:45 a.m. to pick up my registration packet. That means I will have to leave Syracuse at 5 a.m. and get up at 4:30 a.m. That's the freak out number one. As I continue to do research, the freak out number two is that there's a three hour time limit to the race. I don't know if I can run 13.1 miles in three hours! I'm really nervous and freaking out.

Monday, I contact the race organizers, and they won't cancel the registration or let me transfer it to anyone, so my options are to run with a potentially unpleasant experience or lose $60. I'm still not feeling great about all this. But there's nothing I can do, so I suck it up and start preparing for a race.

Fast forward to Thursday. I got to my usual YMCA running group. And I meet with my coach, Kevin Collins, to get a plan on how to train for this half marathon. As we're talking, he says he's doing the Flower City Half Marathon too! I can't tell you what a relief that was to hear. I was so happy I was about to cry. As I talk with the other members in the running group about it, some say they'll try to come run with me. Others say they might come out and run the 5K and be at the finish line waiting for me. I'm just so amazed by everyone in this running group. They are some of the most amazing people I have ever met. They're so supportive of each other, and it makes me so happy to have them in training.

I continue to train. I've been keeping my base run between 30 and 45 minutes. And my long run this week was 2 hours. It felt really good. Once I was done, I felt like I could keep going. I finally feel like I'm starting to get some speed and make progress in my run.

This is going to all be okay. I'm starting to even look forward to the half marathon.