I have been a swimmer my whole life, so I've always had the mindset that I am better in the water than on land. I also despised running for my first 18 years of life. However, once I moved away to college and found that a) the pool was super far away from my sorority house where I was living and b) it was cold, especially in the winter/rainy months in Seattle, to swim and then walk back to my sorority soaking wet, I started running for exercise.
Since then, I'm a pretty consistent weekly runner, but my mileage never goes over 5 miles. I usually stay in the 3-4 mile range, one to three times a week. Obviously running 13.1 miles terrifies me.
I come from a family of runners, so it should be in my blood, right? Probably wrong, but I'm going to to keep telling myself that. My little brother was an awesome cross-country runner in high school. My mom is a Ironman Triathlete and has done her fair share of marathons (even qualifying for the Boston marathon DURING an Ironman... so after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112). Thus, I decided to suck it up and stop freaking out.
I will keep my blog updated on my training efforts and schedules (my mom is helping me put together a training schedule that is very gradual) but right now, I decided to post about how I choose the Huntington Beach 1/2 Marathon, as opposed to any of the other million marathons Los Angeles has to offer.
Why did I choose the Huntington Beach 1/2 Marathon?
1) It's in February, which gives me approximately 5 months to prepare. Most training schedules start at 12 weeks before, so I'm totally giving myself extra time which makes me feel a lot better!
2) It's in February, thus the weather down here in Southern California (hopefully) won't be too hot! And it gives me perfect weather to train during (except this week, when temps are supposed to be 99 until Tuesday and when I go back to Seattle for Christmas...that's going to be cold and wet).
3) It's in Huntington Beach, which means the course is flat! And next to the water, so the views will give me some extra motivation.
4) It's only an hour away from my apartment, so I won't have to splurge on a hotel the night before (I am a poor law student, remember)
5) The medals they give to finishers are apparently very coveted, so at least I am getting something cool for my $100 entry fee
6) There is a beer garden at the end. Self-explanatory, right?
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