it seems 10k tuesday has morphed into 1/2 marathon monday.

So remember how I was saying just last week that I wasn't training for any particular race? Yeah, well that's gone out the window. Why, you ask? Well, it's because I'm going to be running the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco on October 20th of this year.

And how exactly did that come about? Well, I'll tell you.

So about 3 weeks ago, when I was house-sitting for Walker and Joe, I got an email from Nike+ informing me that the draw for the Nike Women's Marathon and Half Marathon in San Francisco was open [I use the Nike+ Running app to keep track of my runs, hence why I got the email]. The Run Nike Women Series works differently from other races; because the demand for bibs is so high, rather than having an open registration until all slots are filled, you have one week in which you can enter your name, the names are randomly drawn, and then you are informed if you were accepted to run the race.

I decided, kind of on a whim, to throw my name into the ring. I figured, why not. If my name gets accepted, I get to go to San Francisco in October and hang out with Miriam and Dave for a bit, and the Run Nike Women Series would be pretty cool for my first half marathon. So I filled out the form, sent it out into the world of the interwebs, and promptly forgot about it.

Until Saturday morning.

That's when I checked my email in Atlanta and discovered an email that said exactly what you see above: "Congratulations, you have been accepted."

So it appears as though I am indeed training for something. And not just any something, but an actual half marathon. That's right, 13.1 miles [approximately 21km]. Which is, you guessed it, about 2x farther than I've ever run before. But hey, there's a first time for everything, right? And I have 4 months to get ready for it.

One of the really nice things that the Nike Series has just debuted is a personalized online training app to get you ready for the race. That means that I no longer have to wake up in the morning and figure out how long / far I want to run, because it's already decided for me. And it means that on the in-between days, I have other workouts to complete, so hopefully I can trim and tone in the process. The entire training program is synced through the Nike+ Running and Nike Training Club apps, so it tells you how far to run or which specific workout to complete on a given day. All I have to do is follow directions.

The training program begins 1 week from today on the 8th of July, so for this week I'll just stick to my originally planned schedule of 3 runs and then will dive into that next week. So for the 3 of you out there in the world who actually follow my running trials and tribulations, be on the lookout in the coming weeks for more specific accounts of how my training is coming along.

And wish me luck!
xx