BIG NEWS.

I'm officially registered for the Chronicle Herald 10k on May 23rd!!!

May 22-23 is the Bluenose Marathon weekend here in Halifax, and it's huge. There are over 1,000 volunteers, an "Active Living Expo" involving 60 exhibitors focused on health and wellness, race bibs (I get a race bib!!!), computer timing chips to record your time, and for people not racing they can watch the finish line action from inside the Metro Centre!!

The only other organized race I've ever run was a sprint triathlon in the summer of 2007. A sprint is a 750m swim, a 20km bike, and a 5km run. I had never done an open water swim, I was wildy unprepared for the bike, and didn't really train any bricks, so my legs almost gave out when I stepped off the bike. Nevertheless, I LOVED it, I almost passed out from excitement when the race organizers wrote my number on my arm in permanent marker and strapped the timer to my ankle. I loved the mayhem of all the splashing legs and arms in the water and loved (okay, well, I didn't LOVE this) having to dodge flailing feet and zoom between jellyfish all at once. The adrenaline was pumping, it was a beautiful day, my mom was busy taking photos and cheering, and everyone was so supportive!! When I got to the run, everyone that passed me (yeah that's right) was super encouraging and urged me to keep going. I gunned it when I saw the finish line, and combination of sunshine, the heady endorphin rush, and the joy of a new experience was incredible.

Reflecting on it now, it's surprising I haven't registered for more races since...

I have about 9.5 weeks until this 10k. I haven't really been training in a specific pattern for the last two weeks (I've been more concerned about seeing if I could still run without dying), but I'm thinking I should start. Stay tuned for some sort of training plan..