Will run for food

I know I already talked about my food and blog-related resolutions for the year, but I have one more I want to share. It’s not directly food-related and it’s also not really a resolution, more like something I just decided I want to do. I decided that I want to attempt running a half-marathon, so J and I signed up for the Helsinki City Run on May 8. That’s exactly ten weeks from yesterday. I’m simultaneously excited and completely terrified.

I’ve never considered myself much of an athlete, and my race-running history has developed slowly. I ran my first 5k in October of 2006 with Siret. Training for that race made me feel like a runner– able to run for more than a few minutes at a time– for the first time in my life. While I continued to run to stay in shape, I didn’t run another race until May 2008, a 7k here in Tallinn. I signed up for a 10k in the spring of last year, but in the end I didn’t run it because it was just a few days before we left for our trip to London and I didn’t have time (I would’ve been ready for the race, though!). I actually ran my first 10k race in September of 2009, the SEB Tallinna Sügisjooks, with a time of 1:08:12. That race was so much fun… it was an incredibly warm and sunny day for September, and there were various music groups performing every kilometer or so along the route, which was very fun and entertaining.  I think my favorite was the guys beat-boxing at kilometer 3. The 10k felt really good, and after that I couldn’t help but wonder whether I could do more. I’ll never be marathon material, but a half… I could do it. I think. I don’t usually run for time, but in this race my goal is to finish in under 3 hours, because only the people finishing under 3 hours get medals. And I want that medal.

I’m not going to write about my running all the time and turn this into a fitness blog. But I’ll probably give some updates as I start building up mileage and increasing my own personal distance records. Plus with all that running, I’ll be able to allow myself a few more chocolate chip cookies!