Half Marathons: I like them because they’re shorter…and I’m lazy like that.

I stole this phrase from the Running Divas. I bought a shirt from them today with the phrase blazoned across the front. It made me laugh out loud.

I’ve often told people that the ½ Marathon is the perfect race. They’re long enough to require you to get out and train, at least a little, but not so far that you can’t go out for cocktails that night. I’ve lost count of the number of ½ Marathons I’ve run, somewhere in the double digits I think. They’re fun, and they DO get me to haul my backside out of bed in the morning. But then again, I already said…I’m lazy like that.

I’m running a ½ Marathon tomorrow morning, the 2^nd half of the San Francisco Marathon. Looking at my schedule for the back half of the year, I’m also signed up to run the Santa Rosa ½ Marathon in August, the Semi Marathon du Provence (yes, France) in October and the Las Vegas Rock N’Roll ½ in December. Did you notice something? If I find a race in September and November I’ll be running a ½ marathon a month for the balance of the year.

That little fact didn’t go unnoticed by me.

What’s also been bugging me was the shabby attempt at goal setting at the beginning of the year. I was sidelined every time I turned around.

I started mulling around the idea of running a ½ Marathon a month for a year.  The idea certainly has merit. As I’ve mentioned, ½ marathons are totally doable and I always do better when there’s a goal to hit. Originally I thought about starting in January and writing off 2010 to make 2011 the “Year of the Late in Life Athlete”. In chatting with my friend Colleen she said “Why not start now?”

Why not indeed?

Why write off 2010?

So I’m not. Tomorrow starts the ½ Marathon a Month plan.

Not surprisingly I’ve already found races in September (Chicago) and November (San Francisco) so I have 2010 taken care of. I’m working on the 2011 schedule now. Take a look on my blog for the race schedule; I’ll make sure I keep it updated.

Care to join me?