Curse You, Hall of Fame City Challenge!

The moment has arrived; the verdict is in.  I will NOT be running the Hall of Fame City Challenge Half Marathon.  For those of you who don't remember the situation over in Canton, here is a recap, and here is a more hopeful recap.  Today I received emails from the organization telling me that the date will now be September 8.  Although I'm sure I don't have any other races going on that day, running a half then will possibly screw up my training for the Akron Half Marathon, and I am not willing to mess with that.

Sigh.  I'm really disappointed that I won't be running this race. The bright side is that I won't be running a bunch of hills in June so soon after running a half in Medina.

I have requested a refund.  I'm sure that won't be a problem.

You Gotta Have Faith

It looks like my plans for running a half marathon in June are coming to fruition.  To recap, I have been worried that the Hall of Fame City Challenge would not happen in June.  For more details (and some griping), check my post here.

I received an email from Hall of Fame City Challenge which directed me to the site.  There, the race director assured us that there will indeed be a marathon in Canton, and it will be Saturday, June 15:

The Hall of Fame City Challenge was formed to take the place of the Canton Marathon, which never got off the ground for 2013. Fortunately, an organization was able to be formed quickly and there will be an endurance race in Stark County again this June.

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While you may have heard conflicting news stories about whether there was going to be a race, or that there were going to be two races back to back, the Hall of Fame City Challenge is THE June marathon.

Considering Active.com is still selling registrations for this race, I'm starting to feel better about my chances.  I realize, though, that I have possibly overbooked myself during that month:

May 19th:  I'm running a 10k in the Cleveland Marathon (Because I registered super-early, I only paid 20 bucks for this event!)

May 25th:  Medina Half Marathon  (This is a free event!  Check it out on Facebook!)

June 15th:   Half marathon in Hall of Fame City Challenge  

I don't even know if there are any 5k's I'm supposed to run with the Turtles during that time.  I'm exhausted just looking at this!  

By the way, I caved, and I am running the 15k in the SARC's Shamrock 15k and 5k.  Without music, but I can't guarantee it's without bitching and moaning. 

This is EXACTLY what the hills are like in the Shamrock 15k.

  I'm going to really need some support on this one!  

It seems that between facebook and running blogs, I've been seeing a lot of goals for 2013. Run with Jess posted a chart with her fitness goals, and she sure has a lot of them. She also talks about preparation for her 2013 races.  David from Daddy Runs Fast evaluated his runs from 2012 and how they compared to previous years.  Several of my running buddies posted retrospectives of their 2012 running seasons (complete with medal shots) and made racing goals for 2013.

I never thought about setting any running goals for 2013; I never thought I'd be running enough to have a goal. My running club buddy suggested that I keep a running journal and gave the example goal of running 1,000 miles in one year, so I thought that was a good idea. I signed up at Dailymile.com to record my mileage and pace, and you can see the mileage tally below. As for racing goals, this is what I've decided: I want to get as close as possible to a two-hour half marathon. I've only run one half marathon (Yay, Akron!), and that was in 2:15, so I think that cutting fifteen minutes may be a lofty goal. To that end, I intend to re-join my coach's prep workshop this summer, and I will pay more attention to pace when I run. So far I've signed up for the following races:
Cleveland Rite Aid 10k (May)
Hall of Fame Challenge Half Marathon, formerly the Canton Marathon (June)
Akron Half Marathon (September)

I plan to fill in the spaces with 5k's, and I definitely intend to register for the Columbus Hot Chocolate 15k when that becomes available for November.

Someday. . . someday I will run a marathon.  I am so jealous of people who are starting their marathon training right now.   I know I will do this, but I also know that I am not ready to devote twice as much time to training as I have been doing for a half marathon.  I guess my long term goal is to run a marathon in two years.  By then I will have completed the major components of my graduate coursework, and my kids will be a bit older and more independent.  Until then I will enjoy the races I have.

I leave you with this video, which all runners will recognize as the exact truth of our lives, no matter how weird it seems to others (yes, Husband, I'm talking to you).


I am a runner. It is fun.