So it’s almost race day!

Here it is, almost race day. My first half marathon. I was sooooo excited about this until Monday when I realized, “Holy Shit! I am running a half marathon. 13.1 miles. Who the hell does that!”

Half-marathon fun facts: from runningusa.org

Since 2003, the half-marathon has been the fastest growing road race distance in the United States, and for six consecutive years (2006–11), the number of 13.1 mile finishers has grown by 10% or more each year. No other U.S. road distance comes close to this growth rate during the Second Running Boom (circa 1994).

Since 2000, the number of half-marathon finishers in this country has more than tripled (482,000 to 1,610,000), an increase of 234%.

59% of half-marathon finishers were females (approximately 950,000, a record).

In 2011, there were a record number of 30 U.S. half-marathons with 10,000 or more finishers. This has nearly doubled since 2009 when there were 17 with 10,000-plus finishers; in 2000, there was only one.

There were a total of 43 half-marathons that make up the Top 100 U.S. timed road race list for 2011 with 16 of them from the nationwide Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series.

Like the past 5 years, there were more than 30 inaugural half-marathons in the U.S. last year, and 2011 produced the largest debut annual half-marathon ever, Rock ‘n’ Roll Savannah, with 14,163 finishers (previous record, 13,835, P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona)

Ok, so a lot of people do this. I have never been one of those people, though, and now I wonder just what the hell possessed me to think that this (and perhaps a marathon at some point), was an awesome idea.

It’s not that I can’t run 13.1 miles. I can. It won’t be pretty, and the pace won’t be particularly impressive, and I will most likely smell like death and regret when I am finished. I guess what I am freaked out about is, I am a creature of habit, and nothing about getting up at 4:15 am on a Saturday morning (well, any morning if I’m going to be honest), and driving an hour and a half away in order to hang around a start for an hour + waiting for the race to start, fits into my daily habit.

I have only run under perfect (for me) circumstances. You know, wake up, have a huge glass of water, a cup of coffee, and a bowl of oatmeal. I mess around on my ipad and then decide if the weather is nice enough to venture out in. If it is, great, out I go. If it’s not, I hang out inside until it warms up a bit.

But this is not so on race day. You run regardless of the weather, regardless of a nervous stomach (or God forbid, a nervous bowel), and regardless of your mindset.

So I am worried. I have run 5 and 10k’s and yes I was a tiny bit nervous, but I knew going in to the 5k, I’d be finished in 26 minutes or so (I can handle anything for 26 minutes). I knew going in to the 10k I’d be finished in 50 minutes or so (and again, I can handle anything for 50 minutes).

But a half marathon is quite a commitment (for me anyway). I am in the 2 hour pace group. I can’t wait to see if I can handle anything for 2 hours. I hope after Saturday I will be able to say, “I know I can handle anything for 2 hours!”

Well, that was quite a rant. Maybe there is something to this blogging thing after all. I feel much better now that I have that off my chest.