Yesterday, I hung out with college roommates Brian and N.I.C.  It was a fun day full of chinese/mongolian buffet food, a little shopping, 6-7 hours of playoff football, and a couple episodes of ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia‘, arguably my favorite tv show.

Within that time, I was able to discuss plans  with Brian for competing in a race later this year.  You may remember my blog from last week about 2009 being the year of the workout; this is a follow-up to that blog.   We came to the agreement that we would participate in a half-marathon.  My first reaction in my head, ‘****!’  I’ve never ran in a coimpetitive running race, let alone a half marathon.  Now, 13.1 miles awaits me on May 31st, all of which I’m not close to being ready for.  I was secretly hoping for a 5K, but Brian thought that would be too easy.

Right now, I give the advantage to Brian.  He’s more used to running than I am.  The most I’ve ever ran continuously at one time is between 2-3 miles.  I’ve always been a short-distance runner.  The sports I’ve played support that: basketball, baseball, football, tennis.   I have no reason to be confident going into this, but I have no choice.  Hopefully, my outlook will change in a month.

There are 139 days, 50 hours, 48 minutes until the Minneapolis Half-Marathon begins.  That’s plenty of time for me to prepare for something that is definitely outside of my comfort zone.

I appreciate the people who have given me tips on how to train, especially Liz.  This should be interesting to see how this plays out.  Training starts sometime this week.

~Jason Douglas

twitter: @jasondouglas