Planning For A Not-So-Planned Half Marathon

I suppose I haven't had enough motivation to blog about much recently in the past three weeks. Well, with Marathon Sunday in Houston coming in just two days, it would be sad to let this time go by without a post....

Originally, I wasn't planning to run Houston at all this year. Shortly after catching the "running bug" I had completed the half course in '06 and '07, and then there was the epic struggle to stay sane through 26.2 miles last year. I felt like I didn't have anything more to prove here in the immediate future and started thinking about traveling and doing more races elsewhere.

Then last summer, my sister mentioned that she was thinking of doing the Aramco Half this year. I told her that if she registered, I would too -- and I'd run it with her. To my amazement, she actually registered. (The Houston event is proving to be ridiculously popular, so folks are now pressured to decide in the summer before the cap fills.) I registered myself shortly after. To my knowledge she had never gone beyond 5K in a race, but unlike where I started, she's a trim lightweight, so I figured that perhaps she'd round into long-distance shape in half a year's time. I had even lent her my prized copy of Marathoning for Mortals and told her she could check in with me at any time for support.

We all lead fairly busy lives, so I suppose it shouldn't have come as a total surprise hear from her that her training didn't go really well, and she doesn't feel ready to run. She thinks she'll walk the course and wants me to run my own race.

So here I sit pondering what I should expect from this one. After the rough run in San Antonio in November, I've been covering consistent mileage, so the base is there. But since time wasn't really an original goal, I haven't been concerned with speedwork. I certainly think I can make the Rock 'N' Roll San Antonio time of 2:25 a fading memory. And unlike San Antonio, Houston is much more of a truly flat course.

At a minimum, I should be able to set a new course PR -- my 2007 time was 2:27. And if there's a special run time-wise in store for me, that's great. But I would have rather run this one in with sis....