Planning for the long run

There is a reason people who run half marathons are in a special group. Not only is it a pretty long distance, but as your training goes along, it starts to take a good chunk of time.

We are currently 5 1/2 weeks away from race day. OMG!!!!!!!!!!!

It is about this time that, on my long runs, I begin to wonder the hell I decided to do this. And a long run to me is anything over 7 miles. Anything that is going to potentially take more than an hour. Yes. An hour. Of running.

Luckily I have amazing running buddies to keep me motivated. But I know we all go through the same thing to plan for these runs. Yes, I said PLAN.

Here is what a typical long run planning session looks like for me:

Step 1: Email my running buddies to see if they are available on x date to run for x (8, 9, 10) miles.

Step 2: Confirm potential date and find a time to ask very-busy husband if he would mind watching the kids while I run.

Step 3: Slyly slip "would you mind watching the kids on x morning, I was hoping to do a long run with running buddies?" and (under my breath) "I might be gone for a few hours" into a conversation.

Step 4: Watch as very-busy husband rolls his eyes, asks if this is going to be our last race and then he agrees, but asks "you'll be home by lunch time, right?"

Step 5: Rush to add running date to the calendar and email running buddies to let them know we are on.

Step 6: On the actual day of running, I wake up early, eat something, drive out to meet my friends, run run run, grab some coffee and then head back home to the family. Typical running date lasts about 3 hours. See why we have to plan?

But, even after all this planning, running, training, the feeling of crossing that finish line, knowing what we had to do to get there, is absolutely amazing.

And no, this will not be my last race (sorry husband!).